The Taiwanese American cousins going head-to-head in the global AI race

CNN: Jensen Huang and Lisa Su, top executives of Nvidia and AMD respectively, are powerful figures in the AI chip industry and share a family connection as distant relatives with roots in Taiwan. This surprising detail was confirmed by Taiwanese genealogist Jean Wu, sparking interest among industry watchers and in Taiwan, where both Su and Huang were born and are celebrated.

Despite being raised separately and abroad, Su and Huang followed similar educational paths in electrical engineering, even sharing a past employer in AMD. As leaders of competitive tech firms just minutes apart in Santa Clara, California, they now steer companies pivotal in gaming, data centers, and the burgeoning AI sector, with products that underpin technologies such as generative AI and electric vehicles.

Amidst their successes, with Su being among America’s highest-paid CEOs, both face challenges due to new US export controls to China, which could affect the sales of advanced AI chips. Despite the competition, Su acknowledges Nvidia’s contributions to the industry and the necessity of sometimes partnering with competitors.

The entire article can be read at the link https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/05/tech/nvidia-amd-ceos-taiwan-intl-hnk/index.html