In an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven world largely powered by Nvidia semiconductors, many people consider the history and vision of Nvidia founder Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) to be every bit as interesting as that of his world-leading company.
With the first authorized biography of Huang — The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip — scheduled for release in April, the Central News Agency interviewed author Stephen Witt for a closer look at the Taiwanese-born American entrepreneur.
A finance reporter based in Los Angeles, Witt wrote a profile of Huang for The New Yorker in 2023, which paved the way for the book.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“I’m not sure how he has avoided burning out,” Witt said, describing the 61-year-old Nvidia chief executive officer as an “absolute workaholic” who has put in long hours every day for 40 years.
Huang is “extremely intelligent and works exceptionally hard,” with two primary scheduling tricks that help maximize his productivity, Witt said.
Huang always tackles the most important task on his schedule first, which Witt said is whatever is the “first thing of the day.”
When scheduling, Huang asks employees to adopt the concept he terms the “speed of light.” The idea is to first identify how fast a task can conceivably be accomplished under perfect circumstances, then work backward toward an achievable — although still accelerated — deadline, Witt said.
Over the past two years, Huang on multiple occasions has said that his company’s chips have consigned Moore’s Law — an observation that suggests the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every 18 to 24 months — to the trash can of history.
Asked about Huang’s expectations for employees and the atmosphere at Nvidia, Witt compared it to a “great research project” that races to achieve “an ambitious goal like the Apollo [space] program.”
Witt said that employees involved in Nvidia’s research and development must work on an accelerated timeline for producing new chip designs, which is tied to a six-month chip release cycle, with many projects thrown together in a series of late-night crunches near the deadline.
“Amazingly, many of these improvised systems still form the basis of Nvidia’s chip architecture,” he added.
Huang began his career in the industry designing microchips in his 20s and embraced AI’s ability to take over much of the work, Witt said, adding that Huang envisions a future where robots can even rearrange the walls of buildings.
Although a celebrity, and despite his rich experiences and skills, Huang is not immune to nerves before delivering a speech, Witt said.
“My favorite memory of him is watching him shift back and forth on his feet before giving a scheduled talk. He is great at public speaking, and has given thousands of presentations — but it still makes him nervous,” he said.
In Taiwan, Huang is known for being approachable, willing to chat with members of the media and a big fan of local night markets, which Witt said is similar to the perception of Huang in the US.
Although Huang is said to reprimand staff in front of others, some employees believe his anger and reprimands are “deliberate theater,” and many often communicate using customized Jensen Huang chat emojis, Witt said.
Witt said that at home, Huang is a “goofy dad” who likes to cook and throw a baseball around and is as committed to being a good father and husband as he is a leader of Nvidia.
However, Huang “hates, hates, hates to lose,” Witt said, adding that Huang tends to explode when confronted with failures, especially when a project is poorly executed.
That hatred of failure also extends beyond his job. For example, Witt said that when interviewing Huang, he could tell he still feels upset about a loss he sustained in the final of a high-school table tennis match.
That mindset might be what drives his relentless work ethic, Witt added.
If Huang is ever given a full day off work, he would most likely “start another business,” Witt said.
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