- The founder of Nvidia, Huang Renxun, was invited to attend the graduation ceremony of National Taiwan University on May 27th and served as a guest speaker. He started by greeting everyone in Taiwanese and mentioned that his Taiwanese language skills were not good enough, so he would deliver the speech in English.
- In his speech, Huang Renxun shared three stories of Nvidia's near failures, encouraging the graduates of National Taiwan University to learn from mistakes, seek help, persevere and cultivate character in pursuit of their visions, and learn to let go.
- In the final part of his speech, Huang Renxun encouraged the graduates to keep running, whether it is running for food or running to avoid being someone else's food, and not to slow down their pace.
National Taiwan University held its graduation ceremony on May 27th and invited Huang Renxun, the founder of Nvidia, to serve as a guest speaker. Huang Renxun delivered a 20-minute speech, and the following is the content of his speech:
(Taiwanese) Hello everyone, today I originally wanted to speak in Taiwanese, but... the more I thought about it, the more nervous I became. I grew up in the United States, so my Taiwanese is not very fluent, so can I speak in English today?
Okay, let's get started!
(English) Distinguished guests, parents, and the graduating class of 2023 from National Taiwan University, hello!
Today is a special day for all of you, a day when dreams come true - for your parents, it's a day for you to leave home quickly.
Today is a day of honor, where your parents sacrificed themselves to make you who you are. My parents are here, my brother is also here, let us express our gratitude to our parents who raised us.
Ten years ago, I came to National Taiwan University for the first time. Professor Chen invited me to visit his physics laboratory. I remember his son learned about Nvidia's invention of CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) technology in Silicon Valley and suggested that Professor Chen use it for quantum physics simulation.
When I arrived, he showed me what he had created: Nvidia gaming graphics cards all over the room, plugged into open computers' motherboards, with large fans for cooling on metal racks.
In his own Taiwanese way, he made a supercomputer with gaming graphics cards. He did an early Nvidia JOURNEY demonstration here. He was proud and said, "Mr. Huang, because of your relationship, I can accomplish my mission."
His words still move me to this day, perfectly embodying the values of our company: to help the Einsteins and Da Vincis of this era accomplish their missions.
I am delighted to be back at National Taiwan University as a guest speaker for your graduation.
To the graduates: The era you are in is complex, but it is also your opportunity#
When I graduated from Oregon State University, the world was relatively simple. TVs were still big, there was no cable TV or MTV, no mobile phones or cell phones. It was 1994, and IBM PCs and Macintoshes started the personal computer revolution. The development of chips and computing programs began.
The world you are in is more complex, facing geopolitical, social, and environmental changes and challenges, surrounded by technology. We live in a data world that is always connected and immersive, coexisting with the real world. 40 years ago, when the computer industry created home PCs and continued to research AI technology, our computing programs drove cars or read X-ray images. AI opened the door to computer automation, and its services cover the world's largest trillion-dollar industries: healthcare, financial services, transportation, and manufacturing.
AI brings us tremendous opportunities, and agile companies will use AI technology to enhance their competitiveness, while those who fail to utilize AI will face decline. Many entrepreneurs, including many of you here today, will start new companies in the future.
Just as every computer era in the past created new industries, AI has created new job opportunities that did not exist before, such as data engineers, AI engineers, AI factory operators, and AI security engineers.
Automated jobs will replace some jobs, and without a doubt, AI will change every job, greatly enhancing the performance of programmers, designers, artists, marketers, and manufacturing planners. Just like every generation before you, embrace technology to achieve success. Every company and you must learn to leverage the advantages of AI and achieve amazing accomplishments with the help of AI.
Some people worry that AI may take away their jobs, and some may even fear that AI will develop self-will. We are at the beginning of a new field, just like personal computers, the internet, mobile devices, and cloud technology. However, the impact of AI is more fundamental, rewriting every level of computation. It changes the way we write software and execute software.
From all aspects, this is a rebirth opportunity for the computer industry, and for Taiwanese companies, it is a golden opportunity. You are the important cornerstone of this industry. In the next decade, our industry will use new AI computers to replace traditional computers worth trillions of dollars.
My journey began 40 years ago, and 1984 was a perfect year for graduation. I predict that 2023 will be the same. What can I tell you? Today is the most successful day for you so far, you have graduated from National Taiwan University, and I have also experienced success. Before I founded Nvidia, I experienced failures, big failures that were shameful and embarrassing, and almost led us to ruin. Let me tell you three stories that define Nvidia's present.
Facing mistakes honestly and humbly seeking help are the most difficult things for smart and successful people to learn#
We founded Nvidia to create accelerated computing technology. Our first application was 3D graphics for personal computer games. We invented a non-traditional forward texture processing technology that was relatively low-cost. We won a contract with SEGA to build game consoles. This attracted game developers to develop games on our platform and provided funding for our company.
But after a year of development, we realized that our architecture was a wrong strategy and technically inadequate. At the same time, Microsoft was about to announce Windows 95 Direct3D based on reverse texture mapping and triangles. This meant that if we completed SEGA's game console, we would create a product incompatible with Windows; but if we didn't complete this contract, we would go bankrupt. Either way, we would face bankruptcy.
I contacted SEGA's CEO, Mr. Irimajiri Shoichiro, and explained to him that our invention was wrong, and we couldn't fulfill the contract for the game console and suggested that SEGA find other partners. I told him, "We have to stop."
But I needed SEGA to pay us the full amount, otherwise Nvidia would not be able to continue operating.
It was embarrassing for me to make this request to SEGA's CEO, but to my surprise, he agreed. His understanding and generosity gave us an additional six months, during which we built Riva 128. Just when we were almost out of money, Riva 128 shook the emerging 3D market and brought attention to us, saving the company's operations.
The market demand for our chips was strong, bringing me back to Taiwan after leaving when I was 4 years old. I met with Mr. Zhang Zhongmou of TSMC and began a 25-year partnership.
Facing mistakes honestly, humbly seeking help saved Nvidia. These qualities are the most difficult for smart and successful people like you to develop.
The arduous process of pursuing a vision shapes our character#
In 2007, we announced CUDA GPU acceleration computing technology. Our expectation was for CUDA to become a programming model that could improve application performance in scientific computing, physics simulation, and image processing.
Creating a completely new computing model was extremely difficult and rare in history. Since IBM System 360, the CPU computing model has been the standard for 60 years. CUDA required developers to write applications and demonstrate the advantages of GPUs; developers needed a large user base; a large CUDA user base required people in the market to purchase new applications.
Therefore, to solve the chicken and egg problem.
We used our gaming graphics card GPU GeForce, which already had a large gaming market, to establish a user base. But CUDA was very costly, and Nvidia's profits suffered greatly for many years, with our market value remaining around $1 billion. Our years of poor performance made shareholders skeptical of CUDA and hoped that we would focus on improving profitability.
But we persisted, we believed that the era of accelerated computing would come, and we created a conference called GTC and tirelessly promoted CUDA technology worldwide.
Then applications such as CT reconstruction, molecular dynamics, particle physics, fluid dynamics, and image processing began to emerge, and our developers wrote algorithms and accelerated chip computing speed.
In 2012, AI researchers explored CUDA, and the famous AlexNet was trained on our GPU GTX 580, starting the AI explosion. Fortunately, we realized the potential of deep learning and took risks to pursue deep learning. Years later, the AI revolution began, and Nvidia became the driving engine. We invented CUDA for AI, and this journey shaped our character, enduring pain and suffering, which are necessary on the path to pursuing a vision.
Learning to let go is the key to success#
Let me tell you another story. In 2010, Google developed the Android system into a platform with excellent graphics, and there were modem chip companies in the mobile phone industry. Nvidia's excellent computing capabilities made Nvidia a good partner for the Android system. We succeeded, and our stock price soared, but competitors quickly entered the market, and modem manufacturers also learned how to produce computing chips, while we were learning about modems.
Because the mobile phone market was huge, we could seize market share. However, we made a difficult decision to give up this market. Because Nvidia's mission is to create computers that can solve problems that "ordinary computers can solve," we should focus on our vision and make our unique contributions.
Our decision to give up paid off, and we created a new market - robotics, with neural network processors and secure architectures running AI algorithms.
At that time, it was still an invisible market. We withdrew from the huge mobile phone market and created a robot market with an unknown market size. However, now we have a business in autonomous driving and robotics worth billions of dollars, and we have created a new industry.
"Letting go" is not easy for smart and successful people like you. However, strategic retreat, sacrifice, and deciding what to give up are the core and crucial elements of success.
Run! Keep running no matter what#
Graduates of 2023, you are about to enter a world undergoing tremendous changes, just like when I graduated and encountered the personal computer and chip revolution. You are at the starting line of AI. Every industry will be revolutionized and reborn. Prepare for new ideas - your ideas.
In 40 years, we created personal computers, the internet, mobile devices, and cloud technology. What will you create in the AI era?
No matter what it is, pursue it with all your might, run! Don't walk slowly.
Whether you are running for food or running to avoid being someone else's food. Often, you don't know which situation you are in, but no matter what, keep running.
In your journey, take with you the mistakes I have made and the experiences I have had. I hope you can face failures humbly, admit mistakes, and seek help. You will endure the pain and suffering required to achieve your dreams and make sacrifices to pursue a meaningful life and sprint towards your career.
Graduates of 2023, I sincerely congratulate each and every one of you.
Go for it!
Original article: 黄仁勋台大毕典演说全文》奔跑吧！ 不论是为了觅食而奔跑，或是不被猎食而奔跑－商周头条｜商周