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#494 – Jensen Huang: NVIDIA – The $4 Trillion Company & the AI Revolution

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#494 – Jensen Huang: NVIDIA – The $4 Trillion Company & the AI Revolution

Lex Fridman Podcast

Mar 23
Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman Podcast

Mar 23
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Jensen Huang is the co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, the world’s most valuable company and the engine powering the AI computing revolution. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep494-sc [https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep494-sc] See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/jensen-huang-transcript [https://lexfridman.com/jensen-huang-transcript] CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey [https://lexfridman.com/survey] AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama [https://lexfridman.com/ama] Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring [https://lexfridman.com/hiring] Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact [https://lexfridman.com/contact] EPISODE LINKS: NVIDIA: https://nvidia.com [https://nvidia.com] NVIDIA on X: https://x.com/nvidia [https://x.com/nvidia] NVIDIA AI on X: https://x.com/NVIDIAAI [https://x.com/NVIDIAAI] NVIDIA on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@nvidia [https://youtube.com/@nvidia] NVIDIA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nvidia/ [https://www.instagram.com/nvidia/] NVIDIA on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nvidia/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/nvidia/] NVIDIA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NVIDIA/ [https://www.facebook.com/NVIDIA/] NVIDIA on GitHub: https://github.com/NVIDIA [https://github.com/NVIDIA] Nemotron: https://developer.nvidia.com/nemotron [https://developer.nvidia.com/nemotron] SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ [https://lexfridman.com/s/perplexity-ep494-sc] Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex [https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-ep494-sc] LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex [https://lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-ep494-sc] Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex [https://lexfridman.com/s/fin-ep494-sc] Quo: Phone system (calls, texts, contacts) for businesses. Go to https://quo.com/lex [https://lexfridman.com/s/quo-ep494-sc] OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:26) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (06:34) – Extreme co-design and rack-scale engineering (09:20) – How Jensen runs NVIDIA (28:41) – AI scaling laws (43:41) – Biggest blockers to AI scaling laws (45:25) – Supply chain (47:20) – Memory (53:25) – Power (58:45) – Elon and Colossus (1:02:13) – Jensen’s approach to engineering and leadership (1:07:38) – China (1:15:51) – TSMC and Taiwan (1:21:06) – NVIDIA’s moat (1:26:43) – AI data centers in space (1:30:31) – Will NVIDIA be worth $10 trillion? (1:40:40) – Leadership under pressure (1:54:26) – Video games (2:01:18) – AGI timeline (2:03:31) – Future of programming (2:17:02) – Consciousness (2:23:23) – Mortality PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast [https://lexfridman.com/podcast] – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr [https://apple.co/2lwqZIr] – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 [https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8] – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ [https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/] – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4] – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips [https://www.youtube.com/lexclips]

Highlights

In this wide-ranging conversation, Jensen Huang reflects on NVIDIA’s transformation from a graphics company into the cornerstone of the AI revolution, sharing insights on engineering philosophy, leadership under immense pressure, and the future of computing.
00:00
Jensen Huang’s leadership is credited as instrumental to NVIDIA’s success in the AI revolution
03:41
Fin handles complex customer service queries with personalization
06:34
Extreme co-design is necessary because problems can't be solved by a single GPU
18:56
GeForce became the foundation for the deep-learning revolution
37:51
New rack systems are designed for agentic AI workers, not just LLM inference
43:41
Power is the major blocker for AI scaling
45:27
Jensen Huang emphasizes informing CEOs about business conditions, growth drivers, and future plans to help them make investment decisions
50:50
Partners understand our needs and we trust what partners will do on EUV and packaging
56:38
Customers should understand their requests, data centers should degrade gracefully, and utilities should offer segmented power delivery promises
58:45
Elon Musk is a deep and good systems thinker, minimalist at a system scale, present at the action, and able to make himself a top priority for suppliers
1:06:02
NVIDIA's NVLink 72 rack contains 1.3 million components and 1300 chips
1:14:55
Nemotron 3 is truly open-sourced with models, weights, data, and creation methods
1:15:52
In 2013, TSMC founder Morris Chang offered Jensen Huang the CEO position, which he declined to stay at NVIDIA
1:21:09
The install base of CUDA is the most important advantage, built by 43,000 people and several million developers
1:26:43
AI compute in space could ease energy scaling issues but has engineering complexities like cooling
1:30:31
Intelligence is a scalable product with different token segments, and high-value tokens may soon command high prices
1:50:32
Being wrong is public, so I reason in front of others to find a collective path
1:54:26
DLSS 5 is 3D-guided and intended to enhance games in line with the artist's style, not post-process finished games
2:01:18
AGI has already been achieved
2:03:31
Despite super-human AI in radiology, the number of radiologists has grown because AI increases diagnostic efficiency and patient throughput
2:20:28
Intelligence is becoming a commodity, while humanity, character, compassion, and generosity are superhuman powers
2:26:50
Plans to upload consciousness to AI and send it to a humanoid robot on a spaceship

Chapters

Introduction
00:00
Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
00:26
Extreme co-design and rack-scale engineering
06:34
How Jensen runs NVIDIA
09:20
AI scaling laws
28:41
Biggest blockers to AI scaling laws
43:41
Supply chain
45:25
Memory
47:20
Power
53:25
Elon and Colossus
58:45
Jensen's approach to engineering and leadership
1:02:13
China
1:07:38
TSMC and Taiwan
1:15:51
NVIDIA's moat
1:21:06
AI data centers in space
1:26:43
Will NVIDIA be worth $10 trillion?
1:30:31
Leadership under pressure
1:40:40
Video games
1:54:26
AGI timeline
2:01:18
Future of programming
2:03:31
Consciousness
2:17:02
Mortality
2:23:23

Transcript

Speaker 2: The following is a conversation with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, one of the most important and influential companies in the history of human civilization. NVIDIA is the engine powering the AI revolution. And a lot of its success can be directly...