The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip

The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip by Stephen Witt

After ending with the exploration of doomsday AI scenarios, the book ends with the disclaimer that it cannot be used to train AI. Ironic or prescient? 

I found this book a better exploration of Nvidia than Nvidia Way. While that book focussed on business process, this book puts the emphasis on the people and what is being achieved. The founding of Nvidia and the evolution from graphics to GPU and AI is covered. However, more emphasis is given to the AI part here. Are we moving into dangerous territory now? 

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim

There were many times in the early days where Nvidia almost went belly-up. They had some strategic decisions that didn't pan out. They bet on new, better technology, but had slow software translation to the old technology. The company would strive to excel technically, while not disgarding the lower levels of the market. The organization structure is extremely flat with the CEO having a large staff. Employees from the CEO down put in crazy amounts of hours of work. They always viewed themselves as being one bad mistake away from oblivion.

Things really started to boom for Nvidia after the company received an XBox contract. Later the company coined the term GPU to describe their programmable graphics chips, but let the term be used generally. They released programming tools and were able to dominate the GPU market. Nvidia saw the potential for GPUs to be used in artificial intelligence work and have been able to ride the AI boom to record valuations. They also got a nice lift from Bitcoin mining and they are still popular with gamers. Nvidia has been able to become the world's highest valued company thanks toa confluence of hard work and being in the right place at the right time.