Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA(NASDAQ: NVDA) who is a leader in building accelerated computing platforms, is the 2021 recipient of the semiconductor industry’s highest honor – the Robert N. Noyce Award, announces the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Jensen will accept the awad at the SIA Awards Dinner on Nov. 18, 2021.
The award is presented annually in recognition of semiconductor pioneer Noyce who has made outstanding contributions to the semiconductor industry in technology or public policy. Noyce is the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel Corporation.
“Jensen Huang’s extraordinary vision and tireless execution have greatly strengthened our industry, revolutionized computing, and advanced artificial intelligence,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Jensen’s accomplishments have fueled countless innovations — from gaming to scientific computing to self-driving cars — and he continues to advance technologies that will transform our industry and the world. We’re pleased to recognize Jensen with the 2021 Robert N. Noyce Award for his many achievements in advancing semiconductor technology.”
Jensen founded NVIDIA in 1993. Since its inception, he has been the CEO and a member of the board of directors. He played an instrumental role in giving direction to the growth of the company. Under Jensen’s leadership, NVIDIA helped build the gaming market into the world’s largest entertainment industry. Recently, the company integrated AI with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots and self-driving cars.
Jensen is a recipient of the IEEE Founder’s Medal, the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award, and honorary doctorate degrees from Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University, National Taiwan University, and Oregon State University. In 2019, Harvard Business Review ranked him No. 1 on its list of the world’s 100 best-performing CEOs over the lifetime of their tenure. In 2017, he was named Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year. Prior to founding NVIDIA, Jensen worked at LSI Logic and Advanced Micro Devices. Huang holds a BSEE degree from Oregon State University and an MSEE degree from Stanford University.
“I am honored to receive the 2021 Noyce Award and do so on behalf of my colleagues at NVIDIA, whose body of work this award recognizes,” said Huang. “It has been the greatest joy and privilege to have grown up with the semiconductor and computer industries, two that so profoundly impact the world. As we enter the era of AI, robotics, digital biology, and the metaverse, we will see super-exponential technology advances. There’s never been a more exciting or important time to be in the semiconductor and computer industries.”
