- Economics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Science & Technology
- Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
He arrived in America as a child with no English. He was mistakenly sent to a school for juvenile delinquents. He faced rampant prejudice—yet Jensen Huang, the under-the-radar CEO of NVIDIA, became a catalyzing figure behind the AI revolution and built the most valuable company in the world. Listen as journalist Stephen Witt speaks with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts about how Jensen pivoted from manufacturing processing units for video games to leveraging their capacity into astonishing computing power and speed. They analyze why Huang bet so heavily on AI when no one else did, and why NVIDIA processors enjoyed almost unrivalled market dominance for so long. They also explore Huang’s unique way of thinking and problem-solving—as well as his temperamental leadership style.
Listen to the episode here.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stephen Witt is a Los Angeles-based author, television producer, and investigative journalist. A frequent writer for The New Yorker magazine, his latest book The Thinking Machine, the history of AI giant Nvidia, was published in the US in April 2025. His previous book, How Music Got Free, was published in 2015 and made into a television documentary.
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