Nvidia founder was ‘not nice’ to Denny’s customers

The co-founders of Nvidia spent hours commuting to a Denny’s restaurant in San Jose, California while planning the company’s growth.

Mandel Gunn/AFP via Getty Images

The Nvidia co-founders told the WSJ that they came up with the idea for the company over breakfast at Denny’s.
The company, valued at $1 trillion, makes graphics cards for gaming and chips that power AI technology.
Insiders have previously reported that NVIDIA is well positioned to profit from the AI arms race.

Great ideas come from unexpected places. Kind of like Nvidia’s origins. The idea for a global chipmaker whose market value just hit $1 trillion this week was born at the Denny’s booth.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, NVIDIA co-founders Jensen Huang, Chris Malakowski, and Curtis Priem said they’d cut Grand Slam breakfasts and too much coffee at a Denny’s in San Jose, Calif. He talked about how he came up with the idea for the company. . An Nvidia spokesperson confirmed to Insider that the founders held the conversation at a location at 2484 Berryessa Road.

“We weren’t good customers,” NVIDIA co-founder Chris Malakowski told the WSJ. “We were going to drink 10 cups of coffee over 4 hours.”

While many companies are currently scrambling to keep up with the AI bandwagon, Nvidia has been in this sector of the industry for a long time. At the time, the AI and PC gaming market was still in its infancy and, as Nvidia CEO Huang told the WSJ, “a $0 billion market.”

A Denny’s waiter with a tray of Grand Slam breakfasts.

AP/Alan Diaz

Today, 30 years later, Nvidia’s chips are essential to powering many artificial intelligence technologies, including language models such as ChatGPT and Bard. The company’s AI tools are transforming the video game experience. Nvidia also recently announced plans to develop computer-generated ads with advertising giant WPP.

Nvidia is poised to continue to profit from the AI boom, with its stock price soaring and the prospect of further growth, Insider’s Matthew Fox previously reported.

The humble beginnings of Nvidia’s story are similar to those of other technology’s origin stories. Facebook was developed in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built his first Apple computer out of the Jobs family garage.

Read more about Nvidia’s founding in The Wall Street Journal.