NVIDIA's CEO was surprisingly spotted on the Joe Rogan podcast, and one of the interesting stories he mentioned was how the interest in NVIDIA's first AI machine was almost nonexistent.
Elon Musk Was Actually the First to Recognize NVIDIA's Potential With the DGX-1 AI System
Jensen, appearing on the 'Joe Rogan Experience' platform, was something that I wasn't expecting at all, but it appears that NVIDIA's CEO has become a mainstream personality, not just at the AI front, but also for the entire tech world. Jensen Huang talked about various aspects of his life and the journey of NVIDIA over the years, but one of the more interesting statements was around how Team Green spent 'billions' creating the very first DGX-1 AI system, but when Jensen went out to the market, the interest around the machine was 'zero', until Elon stepped up.
And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it. Except for Elon.
He goes 'You know what, I have a company that could really use this.' I said, wow, my first customer. And he goes, it's an AI company, and it's a nonprofit and and we could really use one of these supercomputers. I boxed one up, I drove it up to San Francisco, and I delivered to the Elon in 2016.
The delivery of DGX-1 to Elon was part of the AI revolution that eventually unfolded a few years ahead, and it won't be wrong to say that Elon Musk was actually NVIDIA's first customer on the AI front, as he secured the system for his 'non-profit' startup, OpenAI. Of course, AI computation wasn't prominent back then, and the world was focused on CPU-based compute workloads, which is why the DGX-1 didn't see interest early on. However, Elon's adoption really helped NVIDIA in the long run, as it validated the company's compute portfolio as top-notch.
Jensen also discussed the company's 'humble beginnings.' Now, NVIDIA faces a gigantic demand for its AI systems, ranging from Ampere to Blackwell, and it appears that the requirements from the AI industry aren't slowing down at all. NVIDIA is now on track to release Vera Rubin AI systems next year, at a time when the data center and AI infrastructure buildout is at its peak. However, it's still pretty fascinating to see Elon Musk recognizing NVIDIA's potential way earlier than others in the AI race.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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