Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been one of the poster boys for the artificial intelligence revolution because his company’s chips are essential for the technology. Now his personal life is in the spotlight after revelations of an affair with a purported Chinese spy that triggered an investigation by the board.
Here’s a look at Jensen Huang.
Founded Nvidia in a Denny’s diner
Nvidia is a tech giant worth more than $4 trillion, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies. But the company’s beginnings more than 30 years ago were decidedly unglamorous.
The company got its start when three engineers — Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem — gathered in 1993 at a Denny’s diner in San Jose, California, in what’s now the heart of Silicon Valley. They discussed building a computer chip that would make graphics for video games faster and more realistic. That conversation, and the ones that followed, led to the founding of Nvidia.
Why Denny’s?
Huang worked at a Denny’s restaurant when he was young and credits his time there for playing a big role in his early life. He has spoken about how working there helped him overcome his shyness and to learn the value of hard work. On his LinkedIn profile he lists only two work experiences — as Nvidia’s founder and CEO, and as a dishwasher, busboy and waiter at Denny’s from 1978 to 1983.
Coming to America
Huang was born in Taiwan and then spent some time in Thailand because his father moved the family there for work. His parents then sent him to the United States when he was 9, along with his older brother. They lived with an uncle in Tacoma, Washington, who soon enrolled them in the Oneida Baptist Institute in Kentucky, believing it to be a prestigious boarding school.
It turned out to be a religious reform school. The institute was only a high school at the time, so the boys attended a local public elementary school while living in the dorm. Huang has told interviewers he scrubbed toilets in the dorm, taught an illiterate bunk mate how to read, and was bullied for being Chinese.
“And the kids were really tough,” Huang told NPR in 2012. “They all had pocket knives — and when they get in fights, it’s not pretty. Kids get hurt.”
But he also said he loved his time there. Huang and his wife, Lori, donated $2 million to the institute for a new girls dorm and classroom that opened in 2019.
Huang’s parents later came to the United States and the family reunited in Oregon, where he attended high school, graduating early after skipping two grades.
At Oregon State University, Huang studied electrical engineering in a class that had about 250 students, only three of whom were female, including his future wife, Lori, who was on his lab team.
“I suggested that we ought to do homework together every weekend. That was my way of asking a girl out for a date, I guess,” he said in a 2025 interview with the Computer History Museum. “My pickup line was you wanna see my homework?”
The couple worked as chip designers in Silicon Valley, with Huang earning his graduate degree from Stanford University in 1992. They reportedly have two children.
In a June interview with The Associated Press in Texas, Huang said many people are unaware he is actually “deeply boring.”
“I worry about my family, I care about my family. I worry about my job, I care about my company — I cycle through those two things. I am doing one of those two things at all times,” he said, adding that he gets the most joy out of watching “Kingdom of Heaven,” his favorite movie, with his family.
“Nothing gives me more joy than to hang out with my family and that’s all I do. Between those two things, that’s all I do,” Jensen said.
In 1995, the company showed off its graphics chip technology to Associated Press Television News.
“The nature of our technology is to accelerate multimedia applications for the consumer,” said Huang, wearing a blue and white plaid shirt.
Huang is wealthy, powerful and stylish
Huang is one of the world’s wealthiest people, with a personal fortune that Forbes estimates at more than $150 billion. His status has also brought him close to world leaders, including President Donald Trump, whom he helped convince to take a lighter touch on regulating AI, and Britain’s King Charles III, who in September convened a select group of AI leaders, including Huang, to discuss the technology.
He’s known for typically wearing a black leather jacket when he appears at Nvidia product launches and developer conferences. It’s a signature style that evokes another tech icon, Apple founder Steve Jobs, who was known for appearing in black turtlenecks.
The style could also be an effort to signal that, like Jobs, Huang is a one of a kind businessman. Tech industry analysts say it would be hard to find someone else to do the job if the investigation results in a decision to remove Huang.
“Jensen is a core part of the fabric of Nvidia and a key part of their success. He’s the huge asset,” Dan Ives, a partner at Yorkville Ives & Co., told the AP. “That’s the worry here, that Jensen’s not replaceable. Nvidia without Jensen is a much different company.”
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AP videojournalist Mustakim Hasnath and Associated Press writers Josh Boak and Barbara Ortutay contributed to this report.
