During a recent interview with CNBC, Nvidia’s Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang offered an unusually candid reflection on one of the few investment decisions he genuinely regrets. Speaking about Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, Huang revealed that although Nvidia had already taken a stake in the venture, he wished he had committed significantly more capital. He described xAI as one of those rare opportunities that, even in hindsight, seem destined to redefine the technological landscape—a prospect he recognizes as being far more substantial than he initially anticipated.
Huang’s remarks came in response to questions regarding reports that Nvidia might be assisting with financing for xAI’s latest fundraising round. The interviewer pressed him on concerns surrounding what some critics have termed “circular financing,” a situation in which Nvidia could potentially fund AI startups that subsequently use those resources to purchase more of its own graphical processing units. The CEO appeared unbothered by this notion, focusing instead on his admiration for the project and the enthusiasm he felt about its trajectory. He expressed that his greatest regret about Nvidia’s participation was not having gone further when the chance presented itself. As he put it, Nvidia is already an investor, but he would have been happier if he had, in his words, “given him more money.”
In his praise of Musk, Huang emphasized the Tesla and SpaceX founder’s singular ability to create companies that reshape entire industries. He noted that Musk has demonstrated, time after time, a visionary instinct for recognizing emerging technological frontiers and building organizations robust enough to lead them. Huang remarked that almost every enterprise Musk becomes involved with turns out to be transformative in some way—so much so that joining his ventures often feels like participating in the future being constructed. In his view, xAI stands alongside Musk’s previous successes as one of the initiatives pushing humanity toward the next great leap in computational intelligence.
Expanding on this theme, Huang situated xAI within a broader ecosystem of next-generation artificial intelligence firms—companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic—that are fundamentally reshaping how computing operates at scale. He explained that the field has evolved rapidly: not long ago, many AI systems were consuming vast computational resources while producing outputs that were not yet commercially sustainable. For several years, these companies effectively generated data tokens at a financial loss, driven mostly by research curiosity and the hope that breakthroughs would someday pay off. However, Huang observed that in the last several months, a profound shift has occurred. The latest models have begun demonstrating genuine reasoning abilities, conducting research autonomously, and employing digital tools with practical efficiency. In short, these technologies have crossed the threshold from experimental to economically viable. What was once a speculative endeavor has become a source of profitability, proving that conceptual advances in AI can translate directly into revenue and productivity.
Huang was careful to point out that the sweeping boom in artificial intelligence bears little resemblance to earlier speculative bubbles such as the dot-com era. Whereas the late 1990s were characterized by inflated valuations resting on fragile business models, today’s AI revolution, he argued, is grounded in real and measurable global demand. He described it as a market fueled by the world’s most valuable resource—data—and driven by trillion-dollar needs across industries. To illustrate the magnitude of the difference, he compared the total valuation of all internet companies during the dot-com period, which collectively amounted to roughly $30 to $40 billion, with the current scale of hyperscale cloud providers. Those entities—companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—already represent a combined business foundation exceeding $2.5 trillion. For Huang, this contrast underscores that the infrastructural and economic fundamentals underpinning today’s AI surge are not speculative dreams but operational realities.
Looking ahead, he underscored that the computing paradigm itself is shifting. The industry is transitioning away from traditional CPU-based architectures toward an era dominated by GPU-accelerated, generative AI computing. This transformation, in his view, marks the beginning of a multi-trillion-dollar buildout that Nvidia is deeply involved in powering and supporting. Every new wave of development—from large language models to AI-driven automation—requires unprecedented computing power, and GPUs are at the center of enabling that capability. Huang made clear that Nvidia intends to remain at the forefront of this metamorphosis, continuously evolving its hardware and software ecosystems to meet the demands of the next generation of intelligent systems.
He concluded by offering a glimpse into how these advancements are affecting Nvidia internally. Citing the company’s use of AI tools, Huang mentioned that one of his favorite enterprise applications is an AI coding assistant known as Cursor. At present, he explained, every single engineer at Nvidia—literally one hundred percent of the development team—is augmented by such AI-driven programming aids. This integration, according to Huang, has yielded extraordinary gains in efficiency and productivity. It serves as living proof of his broader claim: that artificial intelligence is no longer a theoretical promise residing in research labs, but a practical force actively transforming how technology companies operate.
Through these reflections, Huang not only revealed a rare moment of personal regret but also articulated a striking vision of technological evolution. His acknowledgment of having underestimated xAI is, in effect, a testament to his conviction that the age of intelligent machines has only just begun, and that real value, innovation, and growth now depend on embracing that future rather than hesitating before it.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/jensen-huang-regrets-not-investing-more-in-elon-musks-xai-2025-10
