By KL Lim
Computex 2024 hosted 85,179 ICT buyers and professionals in Taipei last week. And one person stood out head and shoulder above everyone else — NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.
He was like the Pied Piper of Computex. Wherever he went, crowds followed and the media was in a frenzy. It didn’t matter that they had to wait hours in the rain or queued in long lines for his keynote address — and on a Sunday evening to boot!
The local media sniffed out his every move and filmed even the littlest things related to him, such as what he ate at a restaurant where he had lunch with the financial analyst community.
Members of the press, analysts and even restaurant staff, many jostled to take photos with Huang, which he sportingly obliged. He even drew attention for signing on the top of a fan across her chest.
Rockstar appeal
Not since Steve Jobs has the industry had a rockstar like Huang. It’s long overdue and he could be even bigger that Jobs considering that NVIDIA has turned into a US$3 trillion company, making it the world’s second biggest company by market capitalisation with number one Microsoft well in its sight.
Huang’s appeal is astounding. While he was already well known to the gaming community for decades because of the NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, he is now renowned across the entire ICT industry as NVIDIA constantly pushes the boundaries of AI.
Even mainstream media who did not pay much attention to Huang and NVIDIA are now requesting for interviews and writing many stories on him and his company.
Huang arrived in Taipei well before Computex and was generating lots of media buzz wherever he went. He had a busy few weeks, holding meetings with Taiwan tech titans, visiting night markets, popping by partner booths in the exhibition halls, and having dinner with his hero Morris Chang, founder and former chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
Prior to his Sunday keynote address that formally kicked off his Computex activities, Huang threw the first pitch at a live telecast of the Chinese Professional Baseball League game in Taipei between Wei Chuan Dragons and another team at Taipei Dome.
His popularity led to the media coining the term “Jensanity’ — a tribute to his celebrity-like status. For more than a week, he was constantly on Taiwan television, captivating the entire territory.
In his interactions, he often spoke in Taiwanese Hokkien, further endearing him with the locals.
Taiwan the ‘unsung hero’
From his keynote at the National Taiwan University Sports Center to various industry and media meetings, Huang lauded Taiwan’s role in building the infrastructure of AI, dubbing it “the unsung hero” and “a steadfast pillar of the world”.
He made a clever play of the word “Taiwan”, noting that it contains the letters A and I. This suggests that Taiwan is playing a pivotal role in advancing AI technology globally.
He highlighted NVIDIA’s long-standing partnerships with the likes of TSMC, Asus, Foxconn, MSI, and Quanta, and praised the work ethic and spirit of partnership among Taiwanese companies.
NVIDIA also plans to add 1,000 engineers in Taiwan over the next five years for its new AI research and development centre. That’s on top of the hundreds already employed there in various functions supporting the Asia-Pacific region.
Expansion plans are afoot as Huang hinted that NVIDIA is seeking “a large plot of land” to build a headquarters in Taiwan.
He revealed that NVIDIA intends to build a second supercomputer in Taiwan, on top of the Taipei-1 supercomputer already installed as part of the government’s Supreme A+ Program to attract AI investment.
At the opening of the US stock market today, NVIDIA stock will be split from one to 10 shares, making its shares more affordable and accessible to a broader range of investors, especially retail investors.
With AI still in its growing stage and set to transform industries around the world, it looks like Jensanity is set to continue for years to come. There again, Huang is not one to rest of his laurel. He could have just been King of GPUs in the gaming space. Instead, his vision and courage to venture into new grounds has expanded his influence to the entire ICT industry.
Entelechy Asia 