NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, now a pivotal figure in global politics as head of the world's most valuable company, asserts that artificial intelligence (AI) will quintuple global GDP: "Every nation must build it."
On December 11, Time magazine unveiled its 2025 Person of the Year as "The AI Architects," featuring a reimagined version of the iconic 1932 photograph "Lunch atop a Skyscraper." The updated cover replaces ironworkers with executives from leading tech and AI firms, including Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Lisa Su (AMD), Elon Musk (xAI), Jensen Huang (NVIDIA), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Demis Hassabis (DeepMind), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), and Fei-Fei Li (Stanford HAI).
In an exclusive interview, Huang told Time: "Some believe global GDP is capped at $100 trillion. AI will propel that figure to $500 trillion."
The article profiles Huang, 62, the world's eighth-richest person, known for his visionary leadership and intense demeanor. During the interview at NVIDIA's Bay Area headquarters, the typically energetic CEO appeared exhausted until Air Supply's "Hold On to the Dreams" played—prompting him to don his signature black leather jacket and transform into the charismatic face of the AI revolution.
NVIDIA's journey from a discreet gaming GPU specialist to the world's most valuable company reflects its near-monopoly on AI-accelerating chips. Memes depict Huang as Atlas carrying the stock market, underscoring NVIDIA's dual role as both corporate titan and geopolitical strategic asset. Former President Donald Trump recently told Huang during UK state visit preparations: "Jensen, you're conquering the world."
While humanity has long anticipated intelligent machines, 2025 marks the tipping point where AI deployment races ahead of ethical debates. "Every industry needs it, every company uses it, every country must build it," Huang declared days after NVIDIA became the first $5 trillion company to surpass Wall Street expectations. He calls AI "our era's most disruptive technology," noting ChatGPT's 800 million weekly users and AI's pervasive impact across coding, research, and corporate strategy.
However, researchers warn of AI's capacity for deception and manipulation. As models evolve, concerns grow about superintelligent systems, deepfake proliferation, and economic distortion. MIT researcher Paul Kedrosky likens the AI boom to "a black hole sucking all capital." Yet pioneers like Huang envision unprecedented prosperity: "AI will turn $100 trillion GDP into $500 trillion."
The story chronicles how Huang and fellow tech leaders are steering history through trillion-dollar bets on infrastructure and policy shifts, making AI the most disruptive geopolitical tool since nuclear weapons. By late 2025, tools like Cursor and Claude Code have become indispensable—boosting NVIDIA's chip output 4x with only 2x workforce growth. Anthropic engineers use Claude Code to write 90% of their models, while AMD's Lisa Su leverages similar tools to challenge NVIDIA's ecosystem.
"Some jobs will disappear," Huang acknowledges, but disputes doomsday scenarios. He cites radiologists—whose demand surged after AI enhanced cancer detection—as proof that productivity gains create opportunities. "When industry demand is high, AI drives hiring by boosting output and revenue," he argues. "If you don't adopt AI, those who do will take your work."
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