E106: The Man Who Wrote the Book on NVIDIA

Author Tae Kim joins Erik Torenberg and Byrne Hobart to discuss his book 'The NVIDIA Way,' highlighting CEO Jensen Huang's transformation of Nvidia into a tech giant, the company's unique culture, and Nvidia's crucial strategic decisions.

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LINKS:

Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co 

Tae’s newsletter: https://firstadopter.substack.com/ 

The Nvidia Way: https://www.amazon.com/Nvidia-Way-Jensen-Huang-Making/dp/1324086718 

Erik's substack: https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/ 

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE:

• Tae Kim wrote "The NVIDIA Way" after realizing no one had written a book about the company despite its massive importance in technology.
• The core differentiator of NVIDIA is its intense work culture, which former 3dfx engineers discovered was the company's only "secret" - just relentless execution and hard work.
• Jensen Huang, who views work as relaxation, drives the company through a combination of relentless work ethic, talent cultivation, and rapid decision-making.
• As one of the longest-tenured CEOs of any public company, Huang brings a rare combination of technical expertise and business acumen that has helped him consistently anticipate technological shifts.
• NVIDIA revolutionized the graphics card industry by shifting from 18-month to 6-month product cycles, using virtualization technology to implement features in software when hardware wasn't ready.
• The company's early investment in unified drivers and "devs before revs" philosophy prioritized software reliability and developer support before immediate revenue.
• NVIDIA operates on a "rough justice" philosophy in partnerships, accepting short-term imbalances for long-term relationships, exemplified by their decades-long partnership with TSMC.
• The company maintains a unique flat organizational structure where 60 people report directly to the CEO, using a "top five emails" system for direct communication between all levels.
• Jensen stays deeply involved in technical details, reading academic papers and participating in engineering discussions, maintaining both high-level strategy and detailed product knowledge.
• NVIDIA's successful transition from gaming to AI computing represents one of the biggest computing shifts in decades, with data center revenue exploding while the company maintains its long-term strategic focus.