(Bloomberg) — Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang has steadily risen to become the richest in the world as the market value of its computer chip maker approaches $3 trillion.
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Huang reached a new milestone on Friday, passing personal computer pioneer Michael Dell to become the 13th richest person in the world with a net worth of $106.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His fortune has risen by more than $62 billion this year as demand for Nvidia chips used for artificial intelligence tasks remains insatiable.
Huang, 61, is leading a new wave of tech billionaires as the AI-powered “Jensanity,” as one analyst called it, takes over Silicon Valley. Other beneficiaries include Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Charles Liang of Super Micro Computer Inc. Last month, Huang’s fortune surpassed every single member of the Waltons, America’s richest family, after another blowout quarter for the chipmaker.
Huang’s wealth comes from his 3.5% stake in Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, which he co-founded in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. Nvidia on Wednesday became the first computer chip company with a market capitalization of $3 trillion, surpassing Apple Inc.’s value. was surpassed, and flirted with that benchmark again on Friday.
Dell, 59, with a net worth of $105.9 billion, is an outlier in the computer hardware industry among the tech sector’s super-rich, who often owe their wealth to software companies. Dell made much of his fortune through his eponymous company, which sells personal computers and servers.
Yet Dell Technologies Inc. benefited from recent AI success, as companies need servers and other infrastructure to run advanced chips from Nvidia. Investors have increasingly seen Dell, along with Super Micro, as Nvidia’s chosen partner for this business line.
In early March, Dell joined the small group of people with a fortune of more than $100 billion as the company’s shares soared to a record high. The stock has since retreated after posting results that disappointed investors, dropping its founder’s fortune by nearly $12 billion in a single day.
Today, Nvidia operates an ecosystem of hardware and software solutions that rivals from AMD to Intel Corp. trying hard to break it down or replicate it, thanks to the dominant market share of the high-end accelerators used to train AI.
And it has shown no signs of slowing down or of its rivals catching up. Huang said the company plans to upgrade its so-called AI accelerators every year.
–With help from Jack Witzig.
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