Written by: Techub News Compilation

Introduction

Recently, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang was a guest on the first episode of the podcast "A Bit Personal" hosted by industry veteran Jodi Shelton. In this 86-minute in-depth dialogue, Huang rarely opened his heart, recalling how NVIDIA has adhered to the vision of "reshaping computing" since its founding in 1993 and ultimately led the current AI revolution over the past thirty years. As the leader of NVIDIA, one of the world's most valuable tech companies, Huang's personal reflections, management philosophy, and future predictions hold significant value for understanding the development path and future direction of the AI industry.

Summary

• Foreseeing the future and planning ahead: Huang emphasized that to create the future, one must "live in the future" long before it happens. NVIDIA's long-term commitment to CUDA and deep learning is rooted in a belief in the first principles of computer science.
• The key to business success is "character": He believes that NVIDIA's magic lies not in technology or hard work, but in the "corporate character" forged by the entire team in adversity—tolerance, learning, shared responsibility, and a refusal to give up on anyone.
• AI will make all difficulties "smaller": In the next five years, AI will significantly accelerate computing, similar to how supersonic aircraft shorten geographical distances, making today's seemingly complex problems (such as digital biology, materials science, smart grids) easier to solve.
• The CEO is the most vulnerable and dependent on others: Huang candidly admitted that the position of CEO is filled with loneliness and vulnerability, unable to accomplish anything alone, and its success heavily relies on the generous support of others and the collective effort of the team.

"Living in the Future": 33 Years of Commitment and the Inevitable AI Revolution

At the beginning of the interview, Huang recounted the original intention behind NVIDIA's founding. "In 1993, we wanted to reshape computing, and we had a vision of how computers should be built." He noted that this viewpoint was quite controversial and unpopular in Silicon Valley, which was dominated by CPUs and Moore's Law at the time. NVIDIA's early clients included PC chipset startups such as Cirrus Logic and S3, and now the company is dedicated to creating a whole new paradigm of computing.

"To create the future, you must 'live in the future' long before it happens." Huang used the promotion of CUDA as an example to describe that challenging pioneering period. He once pitched CUDA with a laptop in front of an audience of only three people, firmly believing it would change the world. "I might be the person who wears leather jackets the most in the world," he humorously recalled, "If you tell this story long enough, you will feel it has already happened."

He believes that NVIDIA's success is not based on intuition or taste, but rooted in the fundamental principles of computer science. "What is happening now is inevitable in many ways." When computing speed increases by a thousandfold and scale expands by a thousandfold, a "phase change" occurs, resulting in astonishing new states. Deep learning can scale up, and data is a rich natural resource; these are trends they foresaw years ago. The breakthroughs in "unsupervised learning" or "self-supervised learning" technology mark the critical turning point he has been waiting for, and once achieved, it means "the race has begun."

Today, AI is learning the "language" of proteins, cells, and quantum mechanics, fundamentally reshaping how information is represented. Huang likened this transformation to the metaphor of shape communication in the movie "Arrival": "We suddenly become so smart that English itself changes... we may be communicating in another dimension." He excitedly stated that the pace of progress brought by NVIDIA's laws (accelerated computing) is a thousand times faster than during the era of Moore's Law, and the next decade will be extraordinary.

Source of Confidence: First Principles and Continuous Reasoning

Host Jodi Shelton recalled how she was struck by Huang's confidence and wisdom during their first interview in 1994 when he was just 29 years old, saying, "NVIDIA is neither a church nor a prison; you don't have to come, and you don't have to stay." She asked where such early maturity and confidence came from.

Huang's answer pointed to a clear thinking framework. "You must believe in what you believe." He explained that this belief should not be based on hearsay but must be reasoned, broken down into reliable first principles, and regularly tested to ensure these foundations are solid—anchored in physics or basic facts. If the foundation changes, it must be reevaluated and adapted.

"If you believe in something, you have a responsibility to do something about it." He believes in what NVIDIA did in 1993 and still believes in it today. Therefore, he continuously engages in reasoning exercises in his mind: constantly reevaluating the past and inferring the future. "This teaches you how to reason forward." It is this continuous, first-principles-based thinking that gives him long-term confidence.

He also views the CEO position with a "down-to-earth" mindset: CEOs are accountable to the board, the board is accountable to shareholders, and if the CEO fails, they will be fired. "Thus, it is a job, a hiring relationship within an institution... It is not like a church, because not everyone can come; nor is it like a prison, because not everyone must stay." This mindset keeps him humble and fresh, "earning this job every day." He admits that he does not love work every day, but he gives his all every day.

Building an "Inimitable" NVIDIA: Character, Culture, and 60 "CEOs"

When asked if NVIDIA could exist without him, Huang acknowledged that there would not be another CEO like him, as he has been "raised" by the company. 33 years ago, he knew nothing about how to be a CEO, formulate strategies, create industries, and shape cultures. "If there was a Yoda master of corporate strategy... he might look like a little guy like me," he joked. He dedicated his career to learning these and has been a good student, while also investing a strong emotional commitment and deep care that cannot be obtained through hiring—"NVIDIA is one of my children."

However, NVIDIA's resilience does not depend solely on him. He revealed a key management structure: he has nearly 60 direct subordinates. "Any one of those 60 could be a world-class CEO at many other companies." All his important decisions, thought processes, and shares of successes and setbacks are shared in front of these people. "So in many ways, NVIDIA has 61 CEOs." Many of them have served for decades and have a deep emotional connection and sense of ownership toward the company.

This unique structure requires team members to be "excellent" and not just "smart." Huang shared his hiring philosophy: "An empty chair is better than having the wrong person sit there." He never rushes to fill vacancies, believing the company will continue to operate, giving him enough time to find the "right person"—someone he genuinely enjoys working with. He used CFO Colette Kress as an example, saying he found her after interviewing 22 candidates and told her the term was "to the point of death."

He believes the standards of great employees or leaders are hard to define because intelligence and competence are almost universal. The magic of NVIDIA lies in the "chemical reaction" and "corporate character." "In terms of quantity, we are the smallest GPU company in the world... everyone makes more GPUs than I do." Therefore, the key to success is clearly not the output. The true magic lies in corporate culture and corporate character, in how the team unites in adversity.

He cited the development of the latest generation GPU architecture "Blackwell" as an example: "It nearly broke our company, but we did not let it happen." He believes that enduring such an extremely complex and high-pressure challenge is "100% character, not intelligence and not hard work." This character cannot be acquired through interviews, but he believes NVIDIA has the ability to "instill" character in almost anyone who joins. "The company has tortured out our greatness and forged incredible character into us." The key is to create a safe environment where everyone (including himself) can "drop the ball" without being fired as long as teammates have given their all. This tolerance for mistakes, forgiveness, and learning from them forms the core culture of the company.

Suffering and Sacrifice: Family Integration and the "Vulnerable" CEO

Huang referred to "pain and suffering" as NVIDIA's "secret weapon." When asked if there have been any sacrifices unworthy of his commitment, he replied, "Everything is worth it." He is grateful that his wife Lori and children share the same passion and interest in the company, and the whole family is deeply involved in company affairs, which prevents his dedication to the company from translating into estrangement from his family. Of course, he missed almost all of his children's karate competitions and practices, countless dinners, and weekends. "Back in the days before smartphones, going to work meant going to work."

The host praised Huang for having a rare talent: being fully focused in conversations, making the other party feel like the most important person in the world. Huang attributes this to humility and respect. He enjoys observing people focus on things they love and are good at, such as cooking and gardening, and draws inspiration and learning from it. On the other hand, he always hopes to help others succeed. "I want your show to succeed, not for me, but for you." This desire to see others succeed drives him to treat every interaction with the utmost sincerity.

When discussing advice for the younger generation, Huang does not agree with the dichotomy of "either enjoy your twenties or be successful." He considers the work ethic of TSMC founder Morris Chang, who remains sharp into his eighties, to be a wonderful example of "late bloomers." While people in their twenties are energetic and quick-witted, they often lack wisdom, strategic vision, and long-term thinking capabilities, which need to be learned through experiences. He admits that running a company comes with genuine fear, anxiety, and vulnerability, and a leader who is indifferent to success or failure is actually terrible. "I don't know how to learn these things without experiencing them."

Finally, when asked how he hopes to be remembered, Huang appeared humble and grateful. He is thankful to have founded a company that is crucial to the world, impacting nearly every industry, with employees around the globe whose lives have been enriched by it, even welcoming the second and third generations of employees. "People may remember me as the founder and builder of NVIDIA... a good person with a sense of humor who doesn't take himself too seriously." He again emphasized that he is a "very reluctant CEO," who dislikes speaking and appearing in public (these things make him deeply anxious), but he is willing to do whatever is necessary to build NVIDIA.

He particularly pointed out that the role of CEO is much more vulnerable than people imagine. "CEO is an astonishingly vulnerable profession... you cannot do anything alone, so you almost rely on everyone." He believes that the CEO is the person in the company who needs help from others the most, and their success is built on the generosity of countless people. "Perhaps the world makes us appear like powerful leaders, but we are the most vulnerable people in the company." He candidly accepts this vulnerability and believes that recognizing it may be an important lesson for all CEOs.

Looking Ahead Five Years: AI Makes the World Busier, Ignorance Was a Superpower

Looking to the next five years, Huang painted an optimistic picture based on first principles and realistic considerations. First, computers will completely shift from "our programming" to "self-programming under extensive guidance." The scale of problems that computers can handle will be a billion times larger than today, to the point where we can hardly conceive of such problems.

"Because tools are much faster, problems seem much smaller." He likened it to how supersonic aircraft make the world smaller; NVIDIA's accelerated computing makes all difficulties "smaller." Currently tricky problems such as digital biology, physical science, traffic congestion, and waste in smart grids will become easy to solve in the future. "Every scientific field will be affected; every difficulty will be turbocharged." Scientists' mindsets will change: problems that were once considered difficult will now appear simple. Therefore, humanity will solve more problems, company productivity will increase dramatically, and profits will be richer.

He dismissed the pessimistic view that "AI will lead to mass unemployment," arguing that it is more likely that "100% of jobs will change rather than 50% of jobs will disappear." With previously unsolvable problems now solvable, humans will conceive more new problems and experiments, and thus "we may be busier than ever before." AI will also bridge the technological gap, enabling more talented individuals who do not understand technology to amplify their abilities through AI and create new economic opportunities.

During the show's rapid-fire question segment, Huang shared some personal insights. He believes that future definitions of "smart" will no longer be the ability to solve technical problems (which AI will easily master) but rather the ability to combine technical insights, human empathy, foresight into the unknown, and "sensing the atmosphere." His biggest "pet peeve" is when, during important meetings, faced with critical issues, someone does not listen, understand, or respond directly. This always triggers his emotions instantly.

Finally, when asked if he would choose today or the past if he could return to being 20, he unhesitatingly chose the past. He believes that people of his generation were happier in their twenties than people today, and "ignorance is a kind of happiness and a superpower." "If I were not ignorant enough to not know that creating NVIDIA was impossible, NVIDIA would not exist today." He explained that optimists, due to their "ignorance," cannot be convinced that things cannot be done; this kind of "ignorant" optimism is a strong driving force. He worries that the current information-overloaded younger generation becomes cynical too soon, and "we need to establish some internal reserves of optimism." Regarding NVIDIA, his "ultimate plan" is simple: "Continuing to operate is our plan." There is no endgame, only continuous progress and doing meaningful work with excellent people.

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