Summary
What does Lisa Su and Jensen Huang have in common?
Not only are the CEOs of Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD) exceedingly influential figures in the worldwide AI semiconductor sector, but they also share a familial bond.
Since 2020, when Su first recognized the connection, it has been refined to an extensive degree by Taiwanese genealogist Jean Wu.
They did not spend their childhoods together, which could simplify matters given that they are currently engaged in competition at the pinnacle of one of the most scrutinized industries on a global scale.
Their familial heritage originates from Taiwan, an island that is progressively entangled in the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China in the realm of advanced technology.
Huang, at least in Mandarin Chinese, is Su’s “biao jiu,” according to Wu, a former financial correspondent who presently specializes in the study of corporate families. She told CNN that in Western parlance, they are first cousins once removed, which is equivalent to cousins being separated by one generation.
Su is, in fact, the granddaughter of Huang’s uncle, according to Wu, who determined their relationship through an examination of yearbooks, public records, and newspaper clippings, in addition to an interview with a close relative of Huang.
Su responded with a grin, “We are distant relatives,” when questioned at a Consumer Technology Association (CTA) event in 2020.
Huang was verified by an Nvidia representative to be Su’s distant cousin via his mother’s side of the family. Su did not respond to a request for comment regarding this article, whereas Huang declined to comment.
Comparable journeys
Bystanders in the industry have become captivated by the connection.
Local news broadcasts in Taiwan, where Su and Huang, who were born six years apart and currently hold the status of rock stars, have discussed the subject. Online, illustrations of alleged family trees have proliferated on social media platforms, while Reddit and other forum users have discussed the coincidence.
Wu remarked, “I was genuinely astounded by her discovery.” “Because the world is finally able to see Taiwan, I believe the people of Taiwan are pleased with this development.”
The author of “Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology,” Christopher Miller, expressed his initial surprise as well.
“However, it is not unexpected that two individuals of Taiwanese heritage occupy a central position in the chip industry in every other respect,” he explained to CNN. “In reality, no two regions are more interconnected in terms of familial, business, and academic connections than Taiwan and Silicon Valley, despite the two countries being geographically distant from one another.”
Economically bolstering its hardware industry, Taiwan has a lengthy history of manufacturing world-class products, according to Edith Yeung, general partner at Race Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
She ascribed pioneering status to electronics manufacturers ASUS, Acer, and Foxconn, as well as chipmaker TSMC (TSM), which inspired numerous young individuals to pursue careers as technology engineers.
Miller echoed this sentiment. Taiwan’s economy has been predominantly focused on semiconductor-related activities, including electronics production, chip assembly, chip fabrication, and chip design, for nearly half a century. “Moreover, concerning the current state of Taiwan’s economy, semiconductors constitute the country’s largest export,” he added.
This indicates that semiconductors are among the most frequently considered potential career paths by college freshmen as they enter the workforce.
Su and Huang, despite having been predominantly reared overseas, were not an exception.
Huang was born in Taipei in 1963, per Nvidia, before relocating to the southern city of Tainan. In the future, his family moved to Thailand due to his father’s employment at an oil refinery.
Political unrest in the Southeast Asian nation caused Huang and his brother to be temporarily housed with relatives in Washington state when Huang was nine years old. The relatives then enrolled the siblings in a residential school in Kentucky.
In the interim, Su was born in 1969 in Tainan. She had previously migrated to the United States, arriving in New York City at the tender age of three.
Although they spent their childhoods apart, the two followed comparable trajectories as adults.
Huang attended Oregon State University and Stanford University, while Su enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in the field of electrical engineering.
They eventually entered the dynamic world of semiconductors, where they each worked for a distinct company but were employed by the same individual.
Before founding Nvidia in 1993, Huang was a microprocessor designer for AMD. Naturally, Su became a senior vice president at AMD almost two decades later and is ultimately credited with the company’s turnarou
From competitors to relatives
Currently situated in Santa Clara, California, the respective workplaces of both executives are within a five-minute driving distance.
McKinsey projects that their companies’ sales of hardware and software to the world’s leading technology companies will reach $1 trillion by 2030. AMD’s most recent annual report identified Nvidia as a principal rival in the gaming and data center sectors, out of its four primary business domains.
Gamers once recognized the companies primarily for the sale of GPUs, or graphic processing units, which are utilized to render visuals in video games, thereby bringing them to life. Although the two remain competitors in the industry, their GPUs are currently being utilized to drive generative AI, the underlying technology of increasingly popular systems like ChatGPT.
For instance, the chipmaker claims that OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, utilized Nvidia H100 GPUs to train its language model. These components have been likened to AMD’s recently introduced MI300X, an accelerator for generative AI that the company claims is “the most advanced in the world.”
AMD stated in its earnings report on Tuesday that it anticipates GPUs to generate revenue in excess of $2 billion by 2024, with the MI300 series becoming “the quickest product in AMD history to reach $1 billion in sales.” The following day, AMD’s stock up nearly 10% due to the optimistic forecasts.
Additionally, the two engage in competition by offering equipment for data centers, which are physical structures utilized to house vast quantities of electronic data. They depend on integrated circuits comprising processors such as data processing units (DPUs), which liberate space on computers to enable users to execute multiple tasks simultaneously, and central processing units (CPUs), which facilitate the seamless operation of operating systems and programs. Both components are sold to enterprises by AMD and Nvidia.
The companies have garnered increased mainstream attention in recent years due to their provision of state-of-the-art technologies that hold the potential to fundamentally transform society. In addition to AI systems, the processors they manufacture are increasingly being utilized to power electric vehicles, expanding a market that had previously included virtually everything from personal computers to PlayStations.
Miller stated, “I would estimate that whoever logs on to the internet is probably in contact with dozens or hundreds of Nvidia and AMD chips.”
“The majority of individuals are unaware of AMD or Nvidia due to their lack of exposure to the chips manufactured by these companies.” But in reality, you probably rely on both Nvidia and AMD in your daily existence.”
Particularly, the AI growth has accelerated the price of Nvidia shares, which are regarded as the pioneers of the technology used to train artificial intelligence. Consequently, Nvidia’s stock has experienced an enormous rally thus far this year, increasing by 208%.
AMD’s stock has also increased by 73% so far in 2023, Miller noted, despite the fact that the company is considerably smaller than Nvidia.
In the meantime, Su has ascended to the position of the highest-paid female CEO in the S&P 500, placing her among the highest-paid executives in the United States. In 2019, she dominated the index’s rankings for both male and female CEOs of companies, as determined by the Associated Press and the executive compensation analysis firm Equilar in joint evaluations.
I would say anyone who logs on the internet is likely touching not just one, but dozens and hundreds of Nvidia and AMD chips.
As geopolitical tensions persist, both chipmakers’ fortunes may fluctuate, nevertheless. The US export constraints affecting a subset of Nvidia’s advanced AI processors were implemented “immediately,” weeks earlier than anticipated, the company stated in a regulatory filing last week.
While stating that it did not anticipate “a near-term meaningful impact on its financial results,” the company has alluded to a “permanent loss of opportunities” that could result from such restrictions over time.
Meanwhile, AMD stated in August that it would develop products specifically for China while adhering to US restrictions.
Uncomplicated familial dynamics would likely be vastly outweighed by such concerns.
Su responded “I believe Nvidia is a great company” when questioned by the CTA in 2020 regarding her relationship with Huang.
“Attitudinal advancements in AI have without a doubt been influenced by the technological prowess they have showcased for the past decade,” she further stated.
Undoubtedly, we engage in fierce competition, given that we live in a competitive world. Nonetheless, there are times when strategic alliances with rival firms are also necessary in this world.”