Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently stated that he has created more billionaires on his management team than any other CEO. He made these remarks during an interview at the Hill & Valley Forum, highlighting Nvidia’s rapid growth and its impact on the company’s leadership.
Huang spoke about the power of small, focused teams in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. He pointed out that successful AI groups such as OpenAI and China’s DeepSeek started with just around 150 employees.
Huang said, “That’s a good-size team with the right infrastructure. If you’re willing to pay $20 billion or $30 billion to buy a startup with 150 AI researchers, why wouldn’t you pay one?”
On the topic of employee compensation, Huang revealed that he personally reviews the pay of all 42,000 Nvidia employees. He uses machine learning tools to help make recommendations and sometimes surprises top performers with extra stock options and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). He joked, “Yeah, I’m carrying it in my pocket right now.”
Huang emphasized the importance of taking care of employees to ensure business success. He said, “100% of the time, I increased the company’s spend on operating expenses. And the reason for that is because you take care of people, everything else takes care of itself.”
His comments reflect a leadership style focused on building smart, well-supported teams and directly rewarding their work. Under Huang’s guidance, Nvidia has grown into a major player in AI and computing, with significant financial rewards for its leaders.
