How Nvidia’s billionaire CEO went from Denny’s dishwasher to leading a company with a $2 trillion market cap

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 6, 2025. Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence will once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show, as vendors behind the scenes will seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US President-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opens formally in Las Vegas on January 7, 2025, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. (Credit: Getty Images—Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)

Jensen Huang was once Denny’s “best dishwasher.”

“I planned my work. I was organized. I was mise en place,” Huang said during a March 2024 interview with Stanford Graduate School of Business. “I washed the living daylights out of those dishes.”