Jensen Huang on Vision, Risk, and the GPU | Only In America

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 22:37:09 +0000

Today, NVIDIA is widely recognized as one of the most consequential technology companies in the world. But when founder and CEO Jensen Huang set out to build the company more than three decades ago, it was considered an extraordinarily risky bet on a new approach to computing. How did Huang, an immigrant from working-class roots in Taiwan, build NVIDIA into a company at the center of the AI revolution, and could he have done so anywhere other than the United States?

In this episode of Only in America, Condoleezza Rice sits down with Huang at NVIDIA’s Silicon Valley headquarters to explore the experiences, opportunities, and institutions that shaped his remarkable journey. Huang reflects on coming to America as a child, the culture of ambition and innovation that influenced him, the vision that led him to found NVIDIA, and the perseverance required to navigate years of uncertainty and skepticism.

04:42: Jensen Huang's journey to the US
07:54: Jensen's experience at boarding school in Kentucky
14:23: How Jensen came to Silicon Valley
17:23: Founding NVIDIA
23:40: The evolution and growth of NVIDIA
27:08: Sustaining motivation amid challenges
29:01: America's exceptional tech sector
32:28: Why Huang is a "cautious optimist" on AI
35:10: Jensen Huang's Only in America story

Their conversation also examines the future of artificial intelligence, America’s role in advancing technological innovation, and the conditions that make breakthrough achievements possible. Throughout, Huang reflects on why he believes his story, and NVIDIA’s, could only have happened in America.

To learn more about this series visit: https://www.hoover.org/research/jensen-huang-vision-risk-and-gpu?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=onlyinamerica&utm_content=06102026

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The opinions expressed in this video are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.