Jensen Huang of Nvidia Corp. is steadily rising into the ranks of the world’s richest men as his computer chip maker approaches $3 trillion in market value.
On Friday, Huang reached another milestone, overtaking personal computing pioneer Michael Dell to become the 13th richest person in the world with a net worth of $106.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His fortune has risen by more than $62 billion this year as demand for Nvidia chips used to solve artificial intelligence problems remains insatiable.
Huang, 61, is leading a new wave of tech billionaires fueled by artificial intelligence.”Gensanity,As one analyst put it, it’s taking over Silicon Valley. Other beneficiaries include Lisa Su, chief executive officer of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Charles Liang of Super Micro Computer Inc. Last month Juan’s condition surpassed every single member of the Waltons, America’s richest family, after another quarter from the chip maker.
Juan’s wealth comes from his 3.5% stake in Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, which he founded in 1993 with Chris Malachowski and Curtis Priem. Nvidia became the first computer chip company to achieve success $3 trillion by market capitalization on Wednesday, surpassing that of Apple Inc., and flirted with that benchmark again on Friday.
Dell, 59, with a net worth of $105.9 billion, stands out among the tech superrich, who often owe their wealth to software companies. Dell made most of his fortune through his eponymous company, which sells personal computers and servers.
However, Dell Technologies Inc. has benefited from recent success in artificial intelligence as corporations need servers and other infrastructure to run Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips. Investors increasingly view Dell, along with Super Micro, as Nvidia’s partner of choice in this line of business.
In early March, Dell joined a small group of people with wealth exceeding 100 billion dollars as the company’s shares rose to record highs. The stock has since fallen after reporting results that disappointed investors, wiping out its founder’s wealth by nearly $12 billion in a single day.
Today, Nvidia controls an ecosystem of hardware and software solutions that rivals from AMD to Intel Corp. are struggling to disrupt or replicate thanks to its dominant market share in high-performance accelerators used to train AI.
And it shows no signs of slowing down or allowing its competitors to catch up. Juan said The firm plans to update its so-called artificial intelligence accelerators annually.