JENSEN HUANG, AI VISIONARY IN A LEATHER JACKET

Unknown to the general public just three years ago, Jensen Huang is now one of the most powerful entrepreneurs in the world as head of chip giant Nvidia.

- THOMAS URBAIN ALLISON JACKSON

The unassuming 62-year-old draws stadium crowds of more than 10,000 people as his company's products push the boundaries of artificial intelligence.

Chips designed by Nvidia, known as graphics cards or GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), are essential in developing the generative artificial intelligence powering technology like ChatGPT.

Big tech's insatiable appetite for Nvidia's GPUs, which sell for tens of thousands of dollars each, has catapulted the California chipmaker beyond US$4 trillion in market valuation, the first company ever to surpass that mark.

Nvidia's meteoric rise has boosted Huang's personal fortune to more than $150 billion — making him one of the world's richest people — thanks to the roughly 3.5% stake he holds in the company he founded three decades ago with two friends in a Silicon Valley diner.

In a clear demonstration of his clout, he recently convinced US President Donald Trump to lift restrictions on certain GPU exports to China, despite the fact that China is locked in a battle with the United States for Al supremacy.

"That was brilliantly done," said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a governance professor at Yale University.