A sold-out arena, a roaring crowd running from their seats to join the excitement, T-shirt signings—no, this wasn’t another city on Taylor Swift’s global tour. This was Nvidia’s annual conference, and the tech world hasn’t seen anything like it in a long time.
Last month, Nvidia’s market value briefly rose to $3 trillion, making it only the third company in history to do so. Its CEO, Jensen Huang, took the stage like a pop star and was even seen signing a woman’s T-shirt—a moment even Elon Musk hasn’t matched (yet). If the business and tech leaders were feeling envious, that was fitting: Nvidia’s name comes from the Latin word “invidia,” which means envy.
So, what exactly are we supposed to envy?
Huang, now 61, is one of the last founder-CEOs in technology. He started Nvidia when he was 30 and is known for his intensity, ambition, determination—and reportedly kindness. Nvidia began by making computer chips for realistic 3D video game graphics. In 1997, their RIVA 128 graphics card sold well, saving the company from bankruptcy. In 2006, Nvidia developed CUDA, a software ecosystem that expanded the use of graphics processing units beyond gaming. Since then, they’ve steadily evolved their products, anticipating the rise of generative AI.
Cornering this market is why Nvidia’s market value is so high and why its chips are regarded as a matter of US national security in the global chip race.
Huang’s leadership style doesn’t fit the usual molds. He’s neither a mercurial visionary like Elon Musk nor a patient pragmatist in the mold of Apple’s Tim Cook. Instead, he has openly shared that founding and leading a business is “a million times harder than any of us expected it to be.”
He has also emphasized the type of culture Nvidia needs to thrive. Nvidia prioritizes projects over traditional hierarchies, allowing for more transparency and speed. The company has also navigated geopolitical tensions (like China-Taiwan-US) and tightening regulations in the AI industry. This adaptability is key to Nvidia’s success.
As always, with envy, there is more to the story—more hardship in the journey. The lesson here isn’t to wish you had done things differently, but to see what you can change today to create your own success tomorrow.