NVIDIA: Jensen Huang. From near collapse to becoming the world’s biggest company

How I Built This · 18 May 2026 · 1h 07m

What this episode covers

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, recounts the company's near-collapse in the mid-1990s following the catastrophic failure of the NV1 chip, which forced a strategic pivot to the Riva 128 and the development of CUDA. He explains how NVIDIA invested billions into the CUDA platform for general-purpose computing long before it found commercial viability, eventually enabling the AI revolution through gaming GPUs. Huang also discusses his leadership philosophy, his dismissal of AI extinction fears, and the personal sacrifices required to build the world's most valuable company.

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