In 1992, three engineers met regularly over cheap coffee to discuss a wild idea. And now, three decades later, the company they started is worth almost as much as India’s entire economy.
We are talking about the AI powerhouse Nvidia, which has become the first company in the world to reach four trillion dollars in market capitalisation. It’s fascinating how modestly the business began.
The start at Denny’s, San Jose
Nvidia’s incredible journey started in 1992 at Denny’s, a restaurant in San Jose, where three engineers—Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem—would meet over coffee to brainstorm their vision.
They founded the company in 1993, with just $600 in startup capital. Their mission? To bring 3D graphics to PC gaming. But as Huang himself once said, they had "approximately 0% chance of success". Early results seemed to prove him right.
First product, a failure
Nvidia’s first product, the NV1, launched in 1995, was a commercial failure. But they persisted. In 1999, Nvidia launched the GeForce 256, marketed as the world’s first graphics processing unit—or GPU.
This chip didn’t just change gaming; it laid the groundwork for future breakthroughs. From powering Xbox consoles to enabling parallel computing, Nvidia’s GPUs quickly evolved beyond their original purpose.
Nvidia’s early AI bet
Nvidia’s defining moment, however, came with the rise of artificial intelligence. When OpenAI needed hardware to train ChatGPT, it turned to Nvidia’s chips. In fact, back in 2016, Jensen Huang personally hand-delivered a server designed for AI to Elon Musk and Sam Altman, the founders of OpenAI.
That early bet on AI aged remarkably well. By 2023, when ChatGPT took the world by storm, attention shifted to the brains behind AI—Nvidia’s chips. Today, according to various estimates, Nvidia commands between 80-95% of the AI chip market.
The trillion-dollar surge
The AI boom also sparked an extraordinary rally in Nvidia’s stock. The company reached $1 trillion market cap in June 2023. Soon, by February2024, the value of the company doubled to $2 trillion. In no time, by June 2023, it was $3 trillion. And just over two years later, it has quadrupled to $4 trillion.
The stock has surged more than 1,000 per cent since early 2023—meaning a $100,000 dollar investment then would now be worth over $1.1 million.
Jensen Huang’s leadership
Under Jensen Huang’s leadership, who has been CEO since day one, Nvidia has become more than just a chipmaker. It’s the infrastructure of the AI age. As companies pour trillions into AI development, Nvidia’s chips remain the gold standard.
From a $600 startup to a four trillion dollar titan, Nvidia proves that some of the most revolutionary ideas can begin with the simplest conversations.
