Jensen Huang

HE TURNED VIDEO-GAME HARDWARE INTO THE AI BOOM

Huang co-founded Nvidia to make 3D graphics chips for gamers. Nvidia coined the term 'GPU' in 1999 for the GeForce 256 — then deep learning ate the world, CUDA freed those chips from graphics, and the video-game chip company became the engine room of modern AI — with Huang now declaring data centers "AI factories."

1. 1992

   CHIP JOBS AT AMD AND LSI, THEN THE STANFORD MASTER'S

   After studying electrical engineering at Oregon State and working at AMD and LSI Logic, Huang earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford.

   SOURCES: Stanford Engineeringreported

2. Apr 5, 1993

   THREE ENGINEERS START NVIDIA

   Huang co-founded Nvidia with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem to pursue 3D graphics for gaming and multimedia.

   SOURCES: NVIDIAfirst-party

3. 1999

   NVIDIA NAMES THE GPU

   Nvidia introduced the GPU as a distinct computing category, setting up a new architecture for highly parallel graphics workloads.

   SOURCES: NVIDIAfirst-party

4. 2006

   THE GRAPHICS CHIP ESCAPES GRAPHICS

   Nvidia unveiled CUDA, opening GPU parallel processing to scientists and developers far beyond games.

   SOURCES: NVIDIAfirst-party

5. 2012

   ALEXNET TURNS THE GPU INTO AN AI MACHINE

   Nvidia GPUs powered the AlexNet breakthrough, one of the key demonstrations that deep neural networks could radically improve computer vision.

   SOURCES: NVIDIAfirst-party

6. Mar 18, 2024

   BLACKWELL: THE CHIP COMPANY BUILDS THE AI FACTORY

   Huang introduced Nvidia’s Blackwell platform for generative AI and described data centers as AI factories built to produce intelligence.

   SOURCES: NVIDIAreported