One of the people who has benefited most from ChatGPT’s growing popularity is a billionaire famous for his black leather jacket and tattoo that resembles the logo of Nvidia Corp – the company he co-founded in 1993.
Specifically, Jensen Huang has seen his fortune increase by 33% this year to $18.4 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, this is a bigger increase than any other American billionaire. That’s in stark contrast to last year, when his fortunes also saw the biggest drop among US tech giants, along with Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms Inc.
His company Nvidia initially focused on making computer chips to create graphics for video games. They have become the dominant player in powering artificial intelligence applications, from self-driving cars to robots to cryptocurrency mining.
That experience has made Nvidia stock one of Wall Street’s best bets. Investors are excited about how they can capitalize on the excitement about the future of AI. This trend was further accelerated when Microsoft Corp committed to invest $10 billion in OpenAI, the startup that developed ChatGPT.
“ChatGPT has started an arms race,” said Christopher Rolland, senior analyst at Susquehanna Investment Group. Nvidia is way behind the leader.”
Last week, Citigroup estimated that the rapid growth in ChatGPT usage could bring Nvidia between $3 billion and $11 billion in revenue over 12 months. While analyst Atif Malik acknowledges it’s difficult to model growth for such an emerging service, he says he bases his values on predictions for the number of words generated by ChatGPT output and revenue per word for Nvidia.
Huang, 59, studied electrical engineering at Oregon and Stanford State Universities. He declined to comment on the fortune through a spokesman.
At an event this week in Stockholm, Huang said AI will pose challenges for society and regulators, and that while the new technology shows promise, it also has “some harmful effects”.
“What is the social norm for using it?” Huang said at the meeting of Scandinavian executives and researchers. “What are the legal standards? Now it is still evolving.”
After peaking at more than $800 billion by the end of 2021, Nvidia’s market value plummeted last year as its shares plunged 50% amid plummeting game chip sales and PC sales in general fell as well. The company’s stock is up more than 35% since early 2023, reflecting investors’ enthusiasm for the potential of chatbots.
“There’s obviously a lot of buzz around ChatGPT,” said Ruben Roy, general manager at Stifel Nicolaus. “A semiconductor company like Nvidia is the best way to get into the AI game.”
Source: Bloomberg
