How Nvidia Owned A.I. | Light Speed or Bust | 1

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s the early 1990s and video games are about to go 3D. And in a Denny’s in Silicon Valley, three engineers are plotting to cash in on the transition with a startup called Nvidia. But when they misjudge the market, CEO Jensen Huang will have to pull off a multi-million dollar Hail Mary to save it from ruin.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's May 2023, and in Manhattan, a stock trader hunches over his terminal, eyes glued to the stock updates flashing across the screen. Invidia is about to release its quarterly results, and this trader hopes to make a killing from it.
0:23.6	Invidia designs microchips. It started out creating chips that made video games look better.
0:29.6	These days, its chips power the AI boom, and its competitors trail far behind.
0:34.6	Invidia owns nearly 90% of the market for AI chips.
0:39.3	If generative AI is like the California Gold Rush,
0:42.3	well, NVIDIA is the guy selling shovels to miners, you know, the one who makes the real money.
0:48.3	The question today isn't whether NVIDIA is doing well, it's how well it's doing.
0:53.3	But this trader needs to move quickly.
0:56.7	Today's stock markets are run by computers that trade at lightning speed, often with the help of
1:02.0	NVIDIA chips. Against these machines, a blink that delays his trade even by a split second
1:08.2	could cost millions. The trader's terminal flashes the breaking news.
1:13.9	NVIDIA's second quarter revenue estimate, 7.2 billion.
1:19.0	The trader stares in shock.
1:22.1	Invidia's projected revenues are $4 billion higher than expected.
1:27.3	Invidia hasn't just beaten projections. It crushed them.
1:31.9	By the time the trader recovers, the computers have already pounced and made their trades.
1:37.4	His chance to make a big profit from the news has vanished in an instant. The next day,
1:43.5	Nvidia's stock price rises so high
1:46.0	that the company's market valuation increases by $184 billion.
1:52.0	Invidia is now the world's sixth most valuable company
1:57.0	ahead of VISA and Walmart combined.
2:00.0	In 13 months' time, it will leapfrog Apple and Microsoft
	...

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