Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang (
Chinese: 黃仁勳;
pinyin: Huáng Rénxūn;
Pe̍h-ōe-jī: N̂g Jîn-hun; born 1963[2]) is an American businessman,
electrical engineer, and the co-founder, president and CEO of
Nvidia.[3] In March 2024, Forbes estimated Huang's net worth at $81.7 billion, making him the 17th richest person in the world.[4]
Early life and education
Jen-Hsun Huang was born in
Tainan, Taiwan, in 1963. His family moved to
Thailand when he was five; when he was nine, he and his brother were sent to the United States to live with an uncle in
Tacoma, Washington. When he was ten, he lived in the boys' dormitory with his brother at
Oneida Baptist Institute while attending Oneida Elementary school in
Oneida, Kentucky—his uncle had mistaken what was actually a religious reform academy for a prestigious boarding school.[2] Several years later, their parents also moved to the United States and settled in
Oregon,[2] where Huang graduated from
Aloha High School just outside
Portland.[5] He skipped two years and graduated at sixteen.[2]
Huang has currently been the company's chief executive for over three decades, "a tenure almost unheard of in fast-moving
Silicon Valley".[9] He owns 3.6% of Nvidia's stock, which went public in 1999.[10] He earned US$24.6 million as CEO in 2007, ranking him as the 61st highest paid U.S. CEO by Forbes.[10] As of March 8, 2024, Huang's net worth is US$81.7 billion according to
Forbes, making him the 17th richest person on Earth.[11]
Philanthropy
In 2022 Huang donated US$50 million to his
alma mater, Oregon State University, as a portion of a US$200 million donation towards the creation of a supercomputing institute on campus.[12]
Huang gave his other alma mater, Stanford University, US$30 million to build the Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center.[13] The building is the second of four that make up Stanford's Science and Engineering Quad.[14] Huang gave his alma mater
Oneida Baptist InstituteUS$2 million to build Huang Hall, a new girls' dormitory and classroom building.[15]
Awards
1999: Named Entrepreneur of the Year in High Technology by
Ernst & Young[16]
2004: Received the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award from the Fabless Semiconductor Association, which recognizes a leader who has made exceptional contributions to driving the development, innovation, growth, and long-term opportunities of the fabless semiconductor industry[18]
2005: Named Alumni Fellow by Oregon State University[19]
October 2019: Named best-performing CEO in the world by the
Harvard Business Review[23]
November 2020: Named "Supplier CEO of the year" by Automotive News Europe Eurostars[24]
November 2020: Received honorary doctorate from National Taiwan University[25][26]
August 2021: Received the Robert N. Noyce Award from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the industry’s highest honor[27]
September 2021: Was included in the
Time 100, Time's annual list of the world's 100 most influential people[28]
February 2024: Elected to the National Academy of Engineering "for high-powered graphics processing units, fueling the artificial intelligence revolution"[29]
Personal life
While at Oregon State University, Huang met his future wife, Lori Mills, his engineering lab partner at the time.[2] They have two children.[30] His son, Spencer Huang (
Chinese: 黃勝斌;
pinyin: Huáng Shèngbīn), launched a bar in Taipei in 2015, and it was considered one of the top 50 bars in Asia by Forbes. The bar closed in May 2021, and he is now a product manager at Nvidia.[1]
Huang and
AMD Chair and CEO
Lisa Su are relatives.[32] Huang's mother is the youngest sister of Su's maternal grandfather, making them first cousins, once removed.[33][34]