Nvidia, the company that started as a Denny's coffee shop brainstorm between Jensen Huang and his co-founders, has become the world's most valuable chipmaker and the undisputed king of artificial intelligence hardware. Almost three decades later, Huang's mega-company isn't resting on its laurels—it's still making deals that reshape the global tech landscape.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia's co-founder and CEO, sketched the original business plan on a Denny's napkin in 1993. Today, Nvidia is worth more than $2.5 trillion, its GPUs power everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles, and its quarterly revenue has surpassed $30 billion for the first time. The company controls roughly 80% of the market for AI training chips, a dominance that has made it the most important company in the technology industry right now.
Why now? The AI boom that erupted with ChatGPT's launch in late 2022 turned Nvidia from a niche graphics-card maker into a global infrastructure provider. Every major tech company—Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta—and every country trying to build sovereign AI capabilities is buying Nvidia's H100 and newer Blackwell chips. The surge in demand has pushed Nvidia's data-center revenue up more than 400% year-over-year, creating a cash machine that allows Huang to keep striking deals.
Recent moves include a partnership with SoftBank to build Japan's largest AI supercomputer, a strategic investment in AI cloud startup CoreWeave, and the acceleration of the annual chip release cycle from two years to one. Huang also personally visited Taiwan and India in early 2026 to lock in supply-chain commitments and government AI deals. Nvidia's CUDA software ecosystem remains the moat that competitors like AMD and Intel are struggling to breach.
Industry analysts point out that Nvidia's near-monopoly in AI silicon creates both opportunity and risk. 'Nvidia is the only game in town for large-scale AI training, but hyperscalers are designing their own chips, and regulators are watching,' says tech investor Paul Meeks. The company's market cap now exceeds the entire GDP of most countries, making it a systemic pillar of the global economy.
What comes next? Nvidia is doubling down on autonomous driving, robotics, and healthcare AI. The upcoming Blackwell Ultra chip—due in 2027—promises a 10x performance jump. Meanwhile, export controls between the US and China continue to shape Nvidia's product roadmap. Huang's Denny's-born empire shows no signs of slowing: the only question is how long it can keep Moore's Law-altering pace.
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Born At Denny’s: Jensen Huang’s Mega-Company Is Still Making Deals
Nvidia, born from a Denny’s idea by Jensen Huang, became an AI chip giant, reshaping global technology and markets.
John Werner, Contributor
Forbes
2 min read
8/10
Santa Clara, California
Key Takeaways
- Nvidia's market capitalization exceeded $2.5 trillion in June 2026, making it the third-most-valuable company globally after Apple and Microsoft.
- Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 at a Denny's restaurant in San Jose, California, still serves as CEO and holds approximately 3% of the company's shares.
- Nvidia's data-center revenue hit $30.4 billion in Q1 fiscal 2026, a 427% increase year-over-year, driven by sales of H100 and Blackwell GPUs.
- The company partnered with SoftBank to build a $1.2 billion AI supercomputer in Japan, slated for completion in 2027, with 10,000 Blackwell chips.
- Nvidia controls an estimated 80% of the AI training chip market and 85% of AI inference chips, according to 2025 data from Mercury Research.
"We are at the beginning of a new computing era. Nvidia is building the infrastructure for AI to become a utility for every industry. – Jensen Huang (paraphrased from public statements)"
Frequently Asked Questions
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. The three co-founders sketched the original business plan at a Denny's restaurant in San Jose, California, over coffee and pancakes. The company initially focused on graphics processing units for PC gaming.
Jensen Huang is the co-founder and CEO of Nvidia. Born in Taiwan, he moved to the US as a child and earned degrees in electrical engineering from Oregon State University and Stanford. He has led Nvidia since its founding and is credited with pivoting the company toward AI computing.
Nvidia's GPUs are uniquely suited for AI because of their parallel processing capabilities. The company's CUDA software ecosystem, which has been developed over 15 years, allows developers to optimize AI workloads efficiently. Combined with high memory bandwidth and a fast product release cycle, Nvidia maintains a commanding lead over competitors.
In 2025-2026, Nvidia announced a partnership with SoftBank to build a $1.2 billion AI supercomputer in Japan, invested in AI cloud startup CoreWeave, and accelerated its chip release cycle. CEO Jensen Huang also secured supply chain commitments during visits to Taiwan and India.
As of June 2026, Nvidia's market capitalization exceeded $2.5 trillion, making it the third most valuable company in the world after Apple and Microsoft. The company's valuation has grown more than 10x since early 2023.
Key risks include hyperscalers like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft designing their own custom AI chips, increasing competition from AMD and Intel, regulatory scrutiny over antitrust concerns, and US-China export controls that limit Nvidia's sales to China.
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