At 9, he was sent to the United States with his older brother and enrolled at a boarding school in eastern Kentucky. The year he turned 21, he graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in electrical engineering. The year he turned 29, he finished a master’s degree at Stanford while working full time.
The year he turned 30, he co-founded Nvidia with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, using $40,000. The year he turned 36, Nvidia went public on Nasdaq, offering 3.5 million shares at $12. The year he turned 43, he began marketing Nvidia’s GPUs to supercomputing users, and the company released CUDA in late 2006.
The year he turned 46, Oregon State awarded him an honorary doctorate. The year he turned 50, he was inducted into Oregon State’s Engineering Hall of Fame. The New Yorker reports that he bet Nvidia’s future on artificial intelligence that year. The year he turned 53, Nvidia delivered its first dedicated AI supercomputer, the DGX-1, to a research group at OpenAI. The year he turned 54, Fortune named him its Businessperson of the Year.
The year he turned 56, Nvidia agreed to buy Mellanox for $6.8 billion in cash. The year he turned 57, Nvidia announced a $40 billion agreement to acquire Arm. The year he turned 58, he was named the 2021 recipient of the Semiconductor Industry Association’s Robert N. Noyce Award and appeared on Time’s list of most influential people. The year he turned 59, Nvidia and SoftBank called off the Arm deal because of significant regulatory challenges. The year he turned 60, Nvidia’s market value reached $1 trillion at the open on May 30 before slipping back to $990 billion by the close.
The breakthrough yearIn February he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and in March he gave the keynote at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference. The year he turned 61, he drew crowds in Taiwan as Nvidia passed $3 trillion in June, and The Wall Street Journal wrote that he had found celebrity status.
The year he turned 62, he gave a keynote at CES in January, Nvidia became the first company to pass $5 trillion in October, and he shared the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in November. Time’s 2025 Person of the Year was the “architects of AI,” a group that included him.
The year he turned 63, he was named the recipient of the 2026 IEEE Medal of Honor, toured Taiwan and South Korea in June, and saw a signed leather jacket of his sell for $960,000 at Sotheby’s in July.
Jensen Huang (born Feb 17, 1963) co-founded Nvidia in 1993, the year he turned 30. On Jun 5, 2024, the year he turned 61, Nvidia passed $3 trillion and The Wall Street Journal reported that fans in Taiwan sought autographs and selfies from him.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
At 9, he was sent to the United States with his older brother and enrolled at a boarding school in eastern Kentucky.
Source 01 · NPR · Tech Pioneer Channels Hard Lessons Into Silicon Valley Success · opens in a new tab NPR gives his age as 9. The age shown on the timeline is 1973 minus 1963.Graduated with a B.S. in electrical engineering.
Source 02 · Oregon State University · Jen-Hsun Huang, Engineering Hall of Fame 2013 · opens in a new tabEarned a master’s degree in electrical engineering, completed while working full time.
Source 02 · Oregon State University · Jen-Hsun Huang, Engineering Hall of Fame 2013 · opens in a new tabFounded the company with engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, using $40,000.
Source 03 · CNBC · Nvidia CEO: My mom taught me English · opens in a new tab Month not confirmed in news reports. CNBC describes him as 29 at the time; the age shown is 1993 minus 1963.Nvidia offered 3.5 million shares at $12 in its initial public offering. The stock closed its first day on Nasdaq up 64%.
Source 04 · NVIDIA · Initial public offering announcement · opens in a new tabSource 05 · The Wall Street Journal · Shares of Nvidia Surge 64% After Initial Public Offering · opens in a new tabNvidia released CUDA in late 2006. That year Huang began marketing its GPUs to the supercomputing community, The New Yorker reports.
Source 06 · The New Yorker · How Jensen Huang’s Nvidia Is Powering the A.I. Revolution · opens in a new tab Month not given in the article.Oregon State awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in engineering.
Source 02 · Oregon State University · Jen-Hsun Huang, Engineering Hall of Fame 2013 · opens in a new tab Year from Oregon State’s awards database; day not given.Named one of the first inductees when the hall of fame was established.
Source 02 · Oregon State University · Jen-Hsun Huang, Engineering Hall of Fame 2013 · opens in a new tab Year from Oregon State’s awards database; day not given.Inducted into the College of Engineering’s hall of fame.
Source 02 · Oregon State University · Jen-Hsun Huang, Engineering Hall of Fame 2013 · opens in a new tabThe New Yorker reports that he made the bet on the basis of promising research from the academic computer-science community.
Source 06 · The New Yorker · How Jensen Huang’s Nvidia Is Powering the A.I. Revolution · opens in a new tabNvidia delivered its first dedicated AI supercomputer, the DGX-1, to a research group at OpenAI. Huang took the machine to OpenAI’s offices himself.
Source 06 · The New Yorker · How Jensen Huang’s Nvidia Is Powering the A.I. Revolution · opens in a new tab The New Yorker dates this to “around” 2016; month not given.Fortune named him its Businessperson of the Year for 2017.
Source 07 · Fortune · Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is Fortune’s 2017 Businessperson of the Year · opens in a new tab Date is the article’s publication date.The all-cash deal was Nvidia’s biggest acquisition to that point. Nvidia outbid Intel in the auction.
Source 08 · CNBC · Nvidia to acquire Mellanox Technologies · opens in a new tabNvidia and SoftBank Group announced a definitive agreement for Nvidia to acquire Arm in a transaction valued at $40 billion.
Source 09 · NVIDIA · NVIDIA to Acquire Arm for $40 Billion · opens in a new tabThe Semiconductor Industry Association named him the 2021 recipient of its highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award.
Source 10 · Semiconductor Industry Association · Robert N. Noyce Award · opens in a new tabTime’s list of most influential people included Huang, along with Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
Source 11 · Tom’s Hardware · Jensen Huang Makes Time 100 List · opens in a new tabNvidia and SoftBank said in a joint statement that they would not proceed with the Arm deal because of significant regulatory challenges.
Source 12 · The Wall Street Journal · Nvidia, SoftBank Call Off Blockbuster Arm Deal · opens in a new tabNvidia’s market value rose by about $200 billion when the Nasdaq opened, after the company reported quarterly results that beat analyst estimates.
Source 06 · The New Yorker · How Jensen Huang’s Nvidia Is Powering the A.I. Revolution · opens in a new tabSource 13 · CNBC · Nvidia crosses into $1 trillion market cap · opens in a new tabNvidia hit a $1 trillion market value at the open, then slipped to $990 billion by the close.
Source 13 · CNBC · Nvidia crosses into $1 trillion market cap · opens in a new tabThe academy elected him with a citation for high-powered graphics processing units.
Source 14 · National Academy of Engineering · Elects 114 Members · opens in a new tabGave the keynote at Nvidia’s annual GPU Technology Conference.
Source 15 · Business Insider · Zuckerberg says Huang is the Taylor Swift of tech · opens in a new tabMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo of a jacket swap with Huang and wrote in an Instagram comment that Huang was like Taylor Swift for tech.
Source 15 · Business Insider · Zuckerberg says Huang is the Taylor Swift of tech · opens in a new tab Business Insider dates the post to “Tuesday” in an article published March 28.CBS News first published a 60 Minutes story on Nvidia and its 61-year-old co-founder and CEO.
Source 16 · CBS News · Meet Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (60 Minutes) · opens in a new tabNvidia’s market value passed $3 trillion, making it the third U.S. company at that level. The Wall Street Journal reported that fans in Taiwan sought autographs and selfies from Huang that week.
Nvidia became the world’s most valuable public company, ahead of Microsoft.
Source 19 · Forbes · Nvidia Overtakes Microsoft As World’s Most Valuable Company · opens in a new tabDelivered a keynote at CES in Las Vegas, where Nvidia unveiled GeForce RTX 50-series chips built on the Blackwell architecture.
Source 20 · CNBC · Nvidia releases gaming chips for PCs (CES 2025) · opens in a new tabNvidia became the first company to pass $5 trillion in market value.
Source 21 · CNBC · Nvidia becomes first company to reach $5 trillion valuation · opens in a new tabHuang and chief scientist Bill Dally were among seven recipients of the 2025 prize, recognized for contributions to modern machine learning.
Source 22 · NVIDIA Blog · Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering · opens in a new tab Date is that of Nvidia’s post; the prize was presented that week.Time named the “architects of AI” its 2025 Person of the Year. Huang appeared with other technology executives on one of two covers.
Source 23 · BBC News · Architects of AI named Time’s Person of the Year · opens in a new tabIEEE named him the recipient of its 2026 Medal of Honor, its highest accolade, with a $2 million prize.
Source 24 · IEEE · 2026 IEEE Medal of Honor · opens in a new tabCarnegie Mellon announced him as its 2026 commencement keynote speaker and an honorary degree recipient for the May 10 ceremony.
Source 25 · Carnegie Mellon University · 2026 Commencement speaker and honorary degrees · opens in a new tab Based on the university’s announcement; coverage of the speech itself was not checked.Had a barbecue dinner in Seoul on June 5 with the heads of SK Group, LG Group and Naver, and visited Hyundai Motor Group headquarters on June 8.
Source 26 · CNA · Five takeaways from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s Asia tour · opens in a new tabOne of his black leather jackets, signed for the sale, sold for $960,000 after 65 bids from 45 collectors. Proceeds went to the Edge Institute.
Source 27 · The Next Web · Huang’s leather jacket sold for $960,000 at Sotheby’s · opens in a new tabEND OF SELECTED RECORDSSelected records, 1973–2026 · not a complete list of work. “Key moment” is an editorial label, not a measure of success.
What did they do, and at what age?
AgeTrail lines up the key moments of a life by age.
Debut and breakthrough are marked separately, and every record has a source.
Business · United States
Feb 17, 1963 —
Ages are counted from the birth year 1963: the year of the event minus 1963, birthdays aside. “Key moment” labels and the connecting story are AgeTrail's editorial reading.
Fact-checked: 2026.09.30 · An independent archive, not affiliated with the person or their agency.