Jensen Huang’s wealth: With Nvidia hitting $3 trillion, Jensen Huang’s wealth has surpassed that of Michael Dell.
Huang reached another milestone on Friday when he surpassed personal computer pioneer Michael Dell to become the world’s 13th richest person with a net worth of $106.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His fortune has surged by more than $62 billion this year as demand for Nvidia chips used to power artificial intelligence operations remains unsatisfied.
Huang, 61, is leading a new wave of tech billionaires as AI-powered “Jensanity,” as one analyst puts it, takes over Silicon Valley. Other recipients include Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Charles Liang of Super Micro Computer Inc. Last month, Hwang’s fortune surpassed that of each individual member of the Walton family, America’s wealthiest family, following another explosive quarter for the chipmaker.
Huang’s wealth comes from a 3.5% stake in Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, which he co-founded with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem in 1993. Nvidia on Wednesday became the first computer chip company to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion, surpassing the value of Apple Inc. and was testing that benchmark again on Friday.
Dell, 59, with a net worth of $105.9 billion, has been an outlier in the computer hardware industry among the tech super-rich, who often owe their wealth to software companies. Dell made a lot of money through his namesake company, which sold personal computers and servers. Still, Dell Technologies Inc. has been a beneficiary of recent AI success as companies need servers and other infrastructure to take advantage of Nvidia’s advanced chips. Investors are increasingly seeing Dell, along with Super Micro, as Nvidia’s partner of choice for this line of business. In early March, Dell joined a small group of people with wealth exceeding $100 billion as the company’s stock price rose to an all-time high. The stock subsequently fell after announcing results that disappointed investors, wiping the founder’s fortune by nearly $12 billion in one day. Today, thanks to its dominant share of the market for advanced accelerators used for AI training, Nvidia dominates an ecosystem of hardware and software solutions that rivals from AMD to Intel Corp. are working hard to split or replicate.
And it has shown no signs of slowing down or letting its competitors catch up. Huang said the company plans to upgrade its so-called AI accelerators annually.
