2024 Commencement Speaker

To: The Caltech Community
From:  Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and Professor of Physics

It is my pleasure to announce that Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA will deliver the keynote address at Caltech's 130th Annual Commencement Ceremony on June 14, 2024.

Named the world's best CEO by Fortune, The Economist, and Brand Finance, Huang has led NVIDIA to become a pioneer in accelerated computing and the fourth most valuable company in the world. NVIDIA was co-founded by Huang in 1993 to take advantage of the growing demand for 3D graphics and visualization technology that accompanied the rapidly expanding PC and gaming industries. It is now the world's leading maker of chips tailored for artificial intelligence.

Huang translated a childhood passion for computer gaming into a career of innovation, business development, and entrepreneurship, and, in doing so, is at the cutting edge of a technological revolution that is leading profound societal change. His professional and personal journey, and the lessons and insights gleaned in resilience, perseverance, and how to translate expertise into application, offer an important case study in leadership and can inspire our graduates, their family and friends, and the broader community in their paths forward.

Huang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1963 and spent part of his childhood living in Thailand. When he was nine, he and his brother moved to Tacoma, Washington, to live with his uncle. He attended a religious reform academy in Kentucky before reuniting, as a teenager, with his parents in Oregon. Excelling in high school, he graduated at the age of 16 while also a nationally ranked table-tennis player. He completed his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University and worked at LSI Logic and Advanced Micro Devices during the early part of his career. He received his master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University the year before he launched NVIDIA.

Huang has been listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people and has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He is the recipient of the Robert N. Noyce Award from the Semiconductor Industry Association; the IEEE Founders Medal; the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award; and honorary doctorate degrees from Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University, National Taiwan University, and Oregon State University. The Denny's restaurant just outside of San Jose, California, where Huang invited co-founders Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem to discuss what would become NVIDIA, honors the occasion with a plaque.

Please join me in welcoming Jensen Huang to campus on June 14. For more information about Caltech's 130th Annual Commencement, and Huang's personal and professional accomplishments, visit commencement.caltech.edu.