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 33% this year to $18.4 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, this is a larger increase than any other US billionaire. That’s a stark contrast to last year, when his fortune 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.
Thanks to that experience, Nvidia stock has become one of Wall Street’s top bets. Investors are excited about how to profit from 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 far behind the leader.”
Last week, Citigroup estimated that rapid growth from ChatGPT usage could bring in between $3 billion and $11 billion in revenue for Nvidia in 12 months. While acknowledging the difficulty of modeling growth for such a nascent service, analyst Atif Malik says he bases his values on predictions for word count generated by ChatGPT output and revenue per word for Nvidia.
Huang, 59, studied electrical engineering at Oregon state universities and Stanford. He declined to comment on the fortune through a spokesman.
At an event this week in Stockholm, Huang said AI will present challenges for society and regulators, and that while the new technology holds great promise, it also has “some harmful effects.”
“What is the social norm for its use?” Huang said at the meeting of Nordic executives and researchers. “What are the legal standards? Now things are still evolving.”
After peaking at more than $800 billion by the end of 2021, Nvidia’s market value fell last year as its shares tumbled 50% amid plummeting gaming chip sales and PC sales individuals in general also declined. The company’s stock is up more than 35% since the start of 2023, reflecting investor enthusiasm for chatbots’ potential.
“There is clearly a lot of buzz around ChatGPT,” said Ruben Roy, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus. “A semiconductor company like Nvidia is the best way to enter the AI game.”
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Vietnam Insider