Jensen Huang facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jensen Huang
黃仁勳
Huang in 2023
Born	Huang Jen-hsun (1963-02-17) February 17, 1963 (age 62) Taipei, Taiwan
Citizenship	United States Taiwan
Education	Oregon State University (BS) Stanford University (MS)
Occupation	Businessman electrical engineer philanthropist
Known for	Co-founding Nvidia
Title	President and CEO of Nvidia Corporation (1993–present)
Spouse(s)	Lori Huang ​ (m. 1985)​
Children	2
Relatives	Lisa Su (cousin)
Awards	IEEE Founders Medal (2020) VinFuture Prize (2024) Edison Award (2024) Primetime Engineering Award (2024) Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2025)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	黃仁勳
Simplified Chinese	黄仁勋
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáng Rénxūn Bopomofo ㄏㄨㄤˊ ㄖㄣˊㄒㄩㄣ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Hwang Renshiun Wade–Giles Huang2 Jen2-hsün1 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Wong4 Jan4-fan1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ N̂g Jîn-hun Tâi-lô N̂g Jîn-hun
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Jensen Huang (born February 17, 1963) is a Taiwanese-American businessman. He is a co-founder, president, and CEO of Nvidia. Nvidia is a very important company that makes computer chips. These chips are used for things like video games and artificial intelligence (AI).

Huang moved to the United States as a child. He studied at Oregon State University and Stanford University. In 1993, when he was 30, he started Nvidia with two friends. They even planned it in a Denny's restaurant! He has been the leader of Nvidia ever since.

Under Huang's leadership, Nvidia grew a lot. It became famous for making GPUs, which are special chips for graphics. Later, Nvidia became very important in the world of artificial intelligence. In 2024, Nvidia became one of the most valuable companies in the world. Time magazine has named Huang one of the most influential people in the world.

Jensen Huang's Early Life and School

Huang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on February 17, 1963. His family moved around a lot when he was little. His mother taught him English words every day. When he was five, his family moved to Thailand for about four years. He went to school there in Bangkok.

In the late 1960s, Huang's father decided to send his sons to the United States. At age nine, Jensen was sent to the US, even though he couldn't speak English. In 1973, he and his older brother moved to Tacoma, Washington. They were supposed to live with an uncle.

An Unexpected School Experience

Huang's aunt and uncle accidentally sent him and his brother to a religious school. It was called the Oneida Baptist Institute in Kentucky. They thought it was a fancy boarding school. To pay for it, Huang's parents sold almost everything they owned.

When he was ten, Huang lived in the boys' dorm. Every student had to work. Huang cleaned toilets every day. He also learned to play table tennis and joined the swimming team. He even taught his roommate how to read! Huang later said he remembered his time in Kentucky very clearly.

Moving to Oregon and First Jobs

Two years later, Huang's parents moved to Beaverton, Oregon. The brothers left the school in Kentucky to live with them. As a teenager, Huang went to Aloha High School in Aloha, Oregon. He was a great student and skipped two grades. He graduated at age sixteen. He was also a nationally ranked table-tennis player.

Starting at age 15, Huang worked at a local Denny's restaurant. He washed dishes, cleaned tables, and waited on customers. He worked the night shift from 1978 to 1983.

College and Graduate Studies

After high school, Huang went to Oregon State University. He studied electrical engineering and got his degree in 1984 when he was 20. He said he was the youngest student in his classes. Later, while working, he also went to Stanford University at night. He earned a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1992.

Starting His Career in Tech

After college, Huang worked as a microchip designer in Silicon Valley. He worked for a company called Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). While there, he also went to Stanford and raised his two children.

Later, he moved to another company called LSI Logic. There, he met two engineers, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. They were working on a new type of graphics accelerator card. This card helped computers show better images. They created a successful product called the "GX graphics engine." This helped Huang get promoted at LSI.

Founding Nvidia

Huang founded Nvidia after meeting with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem in a Denny's diner in East San Jose. He had worked at a Denny's as a teenager.

After 1990, Huang, Priem, and Malachowsky decided to start their own company. They wanted to make graphics chips for PC games. They first thought of naming it "NVision." But Huang suggested "Nvidia," which comes from a Latin word meaning "envy." Priem wanted competitors to be "green with envy."

The Denny's Diner Meeting

The three friends often met at a Denny's diner in East San Jose in 1992. They planned their new business there. Huang chose Denny's because he used to work there. He also said it was "quieter than home and had cheap coffee." They officially started the company during one of their breakfast meetings.

To start the company, Huang needed money. He found a lawyer who asked for $200 in cash. Huang then asked Priem and Malachowsky for $200 each. So, Nvidia started with just $600! On April 5, 1993, Huang officially signed the papers to create Nvidia.

Getting Funding and Becoming CEO

Even though he left LSI, Huang stayed friends with its CEO. This helped him get money for Nvidia from other investors. This money allowed Nvidia to start making its first chips and pay its employees.

From day one, Huang became Nvidia's president and CEO. He was 30 years old, younger than his co-founders. But Priem and Malachowsky trusted him to lead. Priem told Huang, "you're in charge of running the company."

Leading Nvidia to Success

Jensen Huang has been Nvidia's CEO for over 30 years. This is a very long time in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley. He owns a small part of Nvidia's stock, which became public in 1999.

Huang said that starting Nvidia was much harder than they expected. He mentioned "pain and suffering" and "embarrassment." In the early days, Nvidia almost went out of business. They had only enough money for one more month of payroll. This led to their unofficial motto: "Our company is thirty days from going out of business." Huang often reminded his staff of this. He believes these tough times made him a better leader.

A Unique Leadership Style

Huang doesn't have a fixed office. He moves around Nvidia's headquarters. He likes to work in different conference rooms as needed. He also has many people who report directly to him. He believes these people are "at the top of their game" and don't need much supervision. He also doesn't wear a watch. He says, "now is the most important time."

For a long time, only gamers and computer graphics experts knew about Nvidia. But during the AI boom, Nvidia's value grew a lot. Huang's fame also grew. In 2024, Nvidia's value reached over $3 trillion. News reporters even started calling his popularity in Taiwan "Jensanity." This was like the "Linsanity" craze for basketball player Jeremy Lin in 2012. Huang became a huge celebrity in Taiwan. Fans and photographers followed him everywhere.

In January 2025, Huang gave a big speech at the Consumer Electronics Show. He announced new gaming chips and chips for computers. He also shared plans to help Toyota with self-driving cars. And he talked about new AI models for robots and self-driving cars.

Giving Back: Jensen Huang's Philanthropy

Jensen Huang has given money to many causes. He believes in helping others.

In 2008, Nvidia helped fund a classroom in China. It was for students affected by an earthquake. The students gave Huang a red scarf to thank him. He gave them kaleidoscopes in return.

Huang also gave $30 million to his old university, Stanford. This money helped build the Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center.

In 2019, he gave $2 million to Oneida Baptist Institute. This was the school he accidentally attended as a child. The money helped build Huang Hall, a new dorm and classroom building for girls.

In 2022, Huang gave $50 million to Oregon State University. This was part of a larger $200 million gift. It helped create a new supercomputing institute at the university.

Awards and Recognition

Jensen Huang at SC18

Jensen Huang in Taipei

• 1999: Named "Entrepreneur of the Year" in High Technology.
• 2004: Received an award for his leadership in the chip industry.
• 2007: Recognized for his business and charity work.
• 2009: Received an honorary doctorate from Oregon State University.
• 2019: Named the best-performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review.
• 2020: Awarded the IEEE Founders Medal.
• 2021 and 2024: Included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people.
• 2023: Named best CEO of 2023 by The Economist.
• 2024: Elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work on graphics chips and AI.
• 2024: Received the Edison Award for his vision in AI and technology.
• 2024: Received the grand prize of the VinFuture Prize for his work on neural networks and deep learning.
• 2025: Awarded the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

Jensen Huang's Personal Life

Jensen Huang met his wife, Lori Mills, at Oregon State University. She was his engineering lab partner. They got married in 1985 and have two children, Spencer and Madison.

Their son, Spencer Huang, started a bar in Taipei. It was named one of the top 50 bars in Asia. He now works as a product manager at Nvidia. Their daughter, Madison Huang, works in product marketing at Nvidia.

The Huang family lived in regular homes before Nvidia became a public company. Later, they moved to larger houses.

Jensen Huang is related to Lisa Su, who is the CEO of AMD. They are first cousins, once removed. Huang also speaks Taiwanese Hokkien. He has dual citizenship in Taiwan and the United States. He often visits Taiwan.

Huang is good friends with Charles Liang, who co-founded Supermicro. Both their companies started in 1993. They have worked together on products, with Supermicro using Nvidia's AI chips. Huang is also a close friend of TSMC founder Morris Chang.

See also

In Spanish: Jen-Hsun Huang para niños

• Huang's law