Early Life and Education

Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang was born on February 17, 1963, in Taipei, Taiwan, to a middle-class family. His father, Huang Hsing-tai, was a chemical engineer working at an oil refinery, and his mother, Lo Tsai-hsiu, was a schoolteacher. Due to his father's job, the family frequently relocated, and at the age of five, they moved to Thailand for about four years. During his time in Bangkok, Huang attended Ruamrudee International School, a private institution that provided him with his early education in English.

In the late 1960s, Huang's father traveled to New York City to train with an air conditioning company, and after returning to Taiwan, he decided to send his sons to the United States for better opportunities. At the age of nine, despite not speaking English, Huang moved to the U.S. in 1973, along with his older brother. They initially lived with an uncle in Tacoma, Washington, but shortly after their arrival, due to social unrest in Thailand, the family decided to settle in the United States.

The brothers were mistakenly enrolled in Oneida Baptist Institute, a reform school for troubled youth in Kentucky, thinking it was a prestigious boarding school. The experience was tough for Huang, who was often bullied and physically abused due to his appearance and language barriers. However, he adapted, learned English, and excelled academically. He became a competitive table tennis player and also participated in extracurricular activities such as the swimming team. Huang recalls that his time in Oneida was formative, teaching him resilience and perseverance.

Two years later, in 1975, his parents moved the family to Beaverton, Oregon, where Huang enrolled at Aloha High School. He quickly gained a reputation for academic excellence, skipped two grades, and graduated at 16. Alongside academics, he continued his table tennis career and became a nationally ranked player. Additionally, Huang was an active member of the math, computer, and science clubs at school.

Huang worked part-time at a Denny’s restaurant during his high school years to support himself and gain work experience. This job involved working the graveyard shift as a dishwasher, busboy, and waiter from 1978 to 1983.

After high school, Huang chose to attend Oregon State University because of its low tuition fees for in-state students. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1984. Huang was notably the youngest student in his class and often felt like a "child" among his peers. Despite his young age, Huang demonstrated exceptional talent and interest in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science.

Later, while working in Silicon Valley, Huang pursued graduate studies at Stanford University, earning a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1992.

Career

After completing his education, Huang started his career as a microchip designer in Silicon Valley. He worked for companies such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and LSI Logic, where he was responsible for designing microprocessors. It was during his time at LSI Logic that he met Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, who would later become his co-founders at Nvidia.

In 1993, after leaving LSI Logic, Huang, Malachowsky, and Priem decided to venture into the graphics chip industry. They initially named their company NVision, but later changed it to Nvidia, derived from the Latin word "invidia", meaning "envy." The company's goal was to create high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) for PC gaming. Huang's role as CEO and the leader of the company was pivotal from the start.

The company struggled during its early years, facing financial challenges and competition from established players in the graphics market. However, in 1997, Nvidia released its RIVA 128 graphics chip, which helped the company turn a corner and survive. This marked the beginning of Nvidia's rise to prominence in the tech industry.

Nvidia went public in 1999, and Huang became one of the youngest tech CEOs to lead a publicly traded company. Over the years, under Huang's leadership, Nvidia became known for its GPU products, including the GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla series. Nvidia also expanded its focus to high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia's CUDA architecture allowed programmers to use GPUs for general-purpose computing, which played a significant role in the rise of AI technologies.

Huang's leadership style has been described as hands-on, with a preference for a flat organizational structure. He remains actively involved in the daily operations of the company, regularly interacting with employees and customers. Nvidia's success under his leadership can be attributed to his vision and ability to pivot when necessary, particularly as the company shifted from traditional graphics processing to AI and machine learning technologies.

In 2024, Nvidia reached a market capitalization of $3 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company, surpassing giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Nvidia’s dominant position in the AI sector has led to rapid growth in Huang's net worth, which reached $124 billion by December 2024.

Philanthropy

Huang has a long history of philanthropic contributions. In 2008, Nvidia made a donation to Haidian Foreign Language Shi Yan School in Beijing to support students from regions affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. As a token of gratitude, students from the school presented Huang with a red scarf, and he reciprocated by gifting them kaleidoscopes.

Huang’s philanthropic efforts extend to Stanford University, where he donated $30 million to create the Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center at the university. This donation helped establish a state-of-the-art facility in Stanford’s Science and Engineering Quad.

In 2019, Huang donated $2 million to his alma mater, Oneida Baptist Institute, where he had attended as a teenager. The donation funded the construction of Huang Hall, a new dormitory and classroom building for female students.

In 2022, Huang made a $50 million donation to Oregon State University to establish the supercomputing institute as part of a broader $200 million commitment to the institution.

Awards and Recognition

Huang's achievements have earned him numerous prestigious awards and recognitions throughout his career. Some of the notable awards and honors include:

• 1999: Named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young.
• 2002: Received the Daniel J. Epstein Engineering Management Award from the University of Southern California.
• 2004: Honored with the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award from the Fabless Semiconductor Association.
• 2009: Received an honorary doctorate from Oregon State University.
• 2020: Awarded the IEEE Founders Medal.
• 2021: Recognized in the Time 100, Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
• 2024: Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to AI and GPU technologies.

Huang has been recognized as one of the best-performing CEOs by Harvard Business Review and has received numerous honors for his leadership in the tech industry.

Personal Life

Huang is married to Lori Mills, whom he met during his time at Oregon State University. The couple has two children: Spencer Huang, who worked at Nvidia and founded a top-ranked bar in Taipei, and Madison Huang, a director of product marketing at Nvidia.

Huang has close familial ties to the tech industry; he is first cousins once removed with Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD. He is also fluent in Taiwanese Hokkien and holds both Taiwanese and American citizenship.

Huang is a regular visitor to Taiwan, where he enjoys celebrity status. In 2024, the media began referring to his widespread popularity as "Jensanity," a play on the 2012 phenomenon Linsanity, associated with basketball player Jeremy Lin.

Huang maintains a close friendship with other prominent tech leaders, including Charles Liang of Supermicro and Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC.

References 

• (No date) Bloomberg.com. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-09-28/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-dons-leather-jacket-at-india-pm-meeting (Accessed: 04 January 2025).
• File:Jensen Huang signature.svg (no date) Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jensen_Huang_signature.svg (Accessed: 04 January 2025).
• Jensen Huang (no date) Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/profile/jensen-huang/ (Accessed: 04 January 2025).
• Justin Sullivan (no date) 803 Jensen Huang Photos & High Res Pictures - Getty Images. Available at: https://www.gettyimages.in/photos/jensen-huang (Accessed: 04 January 2025).