The AI boom that followed ChatGPT’s launch last November and the $10 billion Microsoft funding it received shortly after has set off worldwide hysteria.
Billionaires who invested in generative AI technology are reaping big rewards.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has taken the lead, with a 98% rise in his fortune this year to $27.3 billion. This is the highest increase in wealth for any other US billionaire, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Huang is the world’s 44th richest man and is the co-founder of the California-based chip maker. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth, on the other hand, has risen 94% to $88.7 billion in the same period.
As of today, Nvidia’s stock has ballooned 114% year-to-date to $316.78 on NASDAQ, keeping it the best-performing stock of 2023 on the S&P 500 index.
AI’s iPhone moment
It is during a keynote speech at the company’s GTC conference in March that Huang revealed that Nvidia had hit “the iPhone moment of AI.”
“The impressive capabilities of generative AI have created a sense of urgency for companies to reimagine their products and business models,” he said.
The firm reported $6.05 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter that ended in January this year. Huang declared that “AI is at an inflexion point, setting up for broad adoption reaching into every industry.”
Investors now expect Nvidia’s stock to keep soaring, as the semiconductor manufacturer remains well-positioned to capitalize on the ongoing AI boom. Its chips are already powering the global digital economy in areas such as healthcare, data centers, generative AI, gaming, self-driving automation, and robotics.
Nvidia is the world’s top chip maker by market capitalization, with a valuation of nearly $783 billion. The global AI market is projected to grow from $515 billion in 2023 to $2 trillion by 2030.