Jensen Huang’s jargon
Nvidia’s technically savvy CEO may sound like he’s speaking another language, but one thing is clear in our supercut of his speech: he knows his buzzwords and how to sell the crowd.
Steve Jobs kind of invented the modern tech keynote as we know it.
A black-clad CEO in sneakers prowling across the stage, revealing new products in front of a floor-to-ceiling screen, pulling products out of his pocket to wow the crowd, and, of course, “One more thing…”
These are all classic Steve Jobs keynote features copied by today’s tech executives to varying degrees of success. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is clearly a student of those famous Apple keynote presentations. But he has taken the format and made it his own.
Instead of Jobs’ Issey Miyake black mock turtleneck, Huang usually rocks a black leather motorcycle jacket and black sneakers. While their sartorial styles might have been similar, their style of communication could not be more different.
In a 1997 video where Jobs is talking about Apple’s “Think Different” campaign, he discussed the neglect of the Apple brand and how to bring it back:
“The way to do that is not to talk about speeds and feeds. It’s not to talk about mips and megahertz. It’s not to talk about why we’re better than Windows.”
Clearly, this is advice that Huang has flipped on its head. Huang’s buzzword- and jargon-filled keynote speech at yesterday’s Nvidia GTC event is a perfect illustration of how the famously detail-oriented, technically savvy engineer sells his vision (and his products) enthusiastically to a crowd.
Even if they don’t know exactly what he is talking about.
Blackwells, Vera Rubin, and physical AI
The big announcements at the event were Nvidia’s updated GPUs for AI computing: the Blackwell Ultra GB300 and next year’s Vera Rubin and Rubin Ultra (in 2027). Faster computing, for less power. Huang also spent a lot of time talking about the company’s big plans for robotics and “physical AI,” which involves detailed simulated environments where robots can be trained on a “digital twin” of a warehouse or other model. Nvidia also announced a wide-ranging partnership with GM for their upcoming self-driving car fleet. (The carmaker ditched its Cruise program in December.)
Gaussian splats, soft bodies, and petaflops
If one thing is clear from watching Huang power through dozens of Nvidia products and technologies in his two-hour power keynote: he knows his jargon. Between the petaflops, exabytes, micro ring resonator modulators, and silicon photonics, you really see how deep Huang’s knowledge is about the technology built by the company he founded 32 years ago at a Denny’s.
We made a 5.5-minute supercut of Huang’s best buzzwords and jargon from yesterday’s keynote. At times, it sounds like he is speaking another language, but all the while, he is selling.
