NVIDIA Chronicles: Episode 2 – How a Late-Night Meeting at Denny’s Booth in 1993 Gave Birth to an Unusual Chip Startup

Well, here's the second episode of NVIDIA's Chronicles, and if you are unfamiliar with the start of the iconic Jensen Huang, I suggest keeping your eyes peeled for information never seen before.

I know, it took almost six months to release the next iteration of NVIDIA Chronicles, but better late than never, right? You all have seen Jensen in his iconic "black leather jacket" over the stage, but have you ever wondered how this started? Why NVIDIA's CEO began to a company even after having a decent job at AMD and the LSI Corporation. This episode will mainly cover how NVIDIA was born, and if you don't know about it, Team Green was initially called "NVision", and the name NVIDIA evolved into several years later.

Back in the 90s, when the idea of NVIDIA wasn't born, the demand for graphics rose, especially after the release of titles like Virtua Racing (1992) and Virtua Fighter (1993). These were among the first samples of polygon graphics, and the markets at that time perceived them as a huge breakthrough, similar to when DLSS was first introduced. The company Jensen and his co-founders were working at, Sun Microsystems, was essentially dealing with commodity x86 systems, and due to heavy spending, the firm started to see a notable decline, one that was spotted by NVIDIA's CEO way earlier.

Intermission: The Iconic Meeting At Denny's In East San Jose

Now, Jensen's peers had resigned from their workplace and pursued a venture to create a graphics chip for PC gamers, particularly since the demand for graphical computation was at its peak, similar to what we are seeing with AI. If you are curious about what NVIDIA's CEO went to Denny's in particular, well, Jensen had a part-time job serving tables, and more importantly, he claims that the diner had "cheap coffee" and is "quieter than home". The meetings were frequent, and the idea of NVIDIA wasn't a one-day thing; it lasted for several days. Finally, Huang & Co. devised the plan at a breakfast booth.

Three engineers who had resigned from their high-paying jobs were now on their way to creating destiny by setting foot in a segment that was, at the time, deemed foolish. NVIDIA's CEO was inspired to tap into this market following the success he saw at Sun Microsystems, and considering his experience with microchips, the startup was inevitable. For new Team Green fans, I have an interesting piece of information on how the "NVIDIA" name came into the minds of Huang?

Well, NVIDIA is based on a Latin word that basically means "green with envy," and the name was suggested by Huang himself after one of his peers demanded that he have a name that would make competitors envious. Fast-forward to a few decades, and we see NVIDIA on the lips of every retail investor, and this shows that the plans of glory were indeed established in the 90s, when no one was seeing the graphical computation as an opportunity.

Fun Fact: NVIDIA's CEO didn't have enough cash to register his company. Huang asked his co-workers for money in exchange for respective shares, and together, they raised $600, enough to cover the initial lawyer fees. Indeed, humble beginnings.

Now, the meeting is done, and NVIDIA is born. Like an infant, it's not easy to navigate a startup, especially in a niche that has yet to be defined in the market. As Jensen said, if he ever had the chance to build NVIDIA again, he would never do it. Well, this is all for the second episode of NVIDIA's Chronicles. If you want a teaser of the next, it would likely be on NVIDIA's first graphical chip, and how Jensen navigated the disappointment of the project.

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