NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Huang, reviewed the stages of his journey from scratch to the throne of the artificial intelligence sector and his joining the list of the 10 richest people in the world, in an exclusive interview with CBS News.
Huang revealed his humble beginnings; He began working at the age of fifteen in a branch of “Denny’s” restaurant in Portland, Oregon, and took on arduous tasks that included washing dishes, cleaning tables, working as a waiter, as well as cleaning toilets. Huang believes that this experience formed a pivotal legacy that contributed to refining his current leadership personality.
In 1993, Huang returned to meet his friends Chris Malakowski and Curtis Brehm at another branch of the “Denny’s” restaurant chain in San Jose, Silicon Valley. There, the idea of establishing “NVIDIA” was officially launched from one of the restaurant’s kiosks, with the aim of designing a chip capable of running realistic 3D graphics on personal computers.
The company, which went public in 1999, has transformed from a mere gaming chip manufacturer into a global giant in the artificial intelligence industry, with its market value exceeding $5.4 trillion.
Thanks to his ownership of approximately 3% of the company’s shares, Jensen Huang’s wealth today amounts to about $198.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s real-time list of billionaires, which places him eighth among the richest people in the world, in one of the most prominent stories of the rise from the bottom to the top in the modern technology sector.
