Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews) The Thinking Machine: How Jensen Huang Won the GPU War for NVIDIA
Mar 5, 2026
Stephen Witt, award-winning journalist and author of The Thinking Machine, tells Jensen Huang’s rise from near‑bankruptcy to GPU dominance. He explores NVIDIA’s brutal 70‑competitor fight, the strategic bet on CUDA and parallel computing, the 2012 AI breakthrough that changed everything, and why Huang’s near‑death mindset led to durable platform advantages and bold market choices.
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Kentucky Boarding School Hardened Jensen’s Resilience
- Jensen thrived at a harsh boarding school in Kentucky despite language and culture gaps, turning bullying into adaptability and popularity.
- That survival forged his ability to win in chaotic, high‑pressure environments later in business.
Solve The Hardest Customer Problems
- Seek the toughest customer problems to build products that keep you on the cutting edge.
- At LSI Jensen volunteered for the most complex requests and later lost money building tools for niche scientists to stay ahead.
Build For Zero-Billion Markets
- Avoid crowded "knife-fight" markets and instead create $0-billion markets where competitors and customers don't yet exist.
- After surviving a 70‑player GPU battle, Jensen deliberately targeted arenas with no rivals, building platforms first and waiting for demand.
