Nvidia CEO Gets Rock Star Reception in Taiwan With AI Stock Surge

(Bloomberg) -- Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of chip phenom Nvidia Corp., is getting the kind of treatment usually reserved for celebrities and sports stars during a trip to Taiwan.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The 60-year-old was followed around a local night market as he picked up food over the weekend, and has been mobbed constantly by fans and media as he walked the hallways at the Computex trade show. On Tuesday, dozens of people crowded in next to him for selfies, while photographers tried to get clear shots.

The day marked Huang’s fifth public appearance in seven days, this time for a roundable where he fielded questions on topics from artificial-intelligence regulation to how the technology would be used in places like China. Huang made the case that AI will spill over the boundaries of the tech industry into everything from farming and factories to pharmaceuticals and climate change.

“AI is an incredible computer that’s very easy to program,” he said. “You can speak whatever language you like, you can even draw pictures. “I have just turned everyone into a programmer.”

Nvidia shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading, pushing the company closer to a $1 trillion market capitalization.

Nvidia has had a dizzying week. It began when Huang on Wednesday forecast revenue for the current quarter that was more than 50% beyond analyst estimates, signaling explosive demand for the chips powering artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.

Nvidia’s market capitalization soared $184 billion in a single day and drove an AI rally around the world. The company’s valuation is closing in the $1 trillion mark, a level no chipmaker has ever hit. One analyst responded with a research note entitled, “Greatest Beat of All Time?”