Nvidia

The “godfather of AI” is a much richer man thanks to Nvidia stock’s more than 20,000% increase over the last decade.

Tech stocks on Wall Street defied sticky inflation Friday to post their biggest gain in more than two months—easing market anxiety about a slowdown in economic activities—after blockbuster first-quarter earnings and continued betting on artificial intelligence fired up the valuations of major companies.

Shares of artificial intelligence leader Nvidia are up more than 400% since the beginning of last year, adding about $1.5 trillion to its market capitalization.

If Curtis Priem, Nvidia’s first CTO, had held onto all his stock, he’d be the 16th richest person in America. Instead, he sold out years ago and gave most of his fortune to his alma mater Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Chip designer Arm Holdings held its initial public offer (IPO) on September 13, banking US$54.5 billion (AU$84.8 billion), making it the year’s biggest IPO to date.

Led by the “godfather of AI,” Nvidia is expected to report a quadrupling of EBITDA this quarter.

Nvidia held its GTC 2023 event for developers this past week, with a range of announcements in quantum computing, the metaverse, large language models, robotics, automotive and more.