Nvidia Corp’s Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang revealed that the Japanese investment group Softbank was once the tech giant’s largest shareholder as he shared the stage with CEO Masayoshi Son, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, November 13.
“Many of you probably don’t know this, but at one point, Masa was the largest shareholder of Nvidia,” said Jensen Huang at an event in Tokyo on November 13.
Huang recalled the company’s history with Masayoshi Son and how important the head has been for Asian countries. “It’s okay, we can cry together,” said Jensen Huang, hugging Masayoshi Son on stage at an event in Tokyo.
Masayoshi Son and Jensen Huang now plan to join forces to help SoftBank be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design as the company focuses on its AI ambitions, as per the report.
SoftBank’s telecom unit plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support a wide range of local services, according to the company.
Huang highlighted Masayoshi Son’s achievements, such as bringing innovators like Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jerry Yang of Yahoo to Japan. The SoftBank chief was also responsible for bringing Steve Jobs along with the Apple iPhone into the country, making the cloud industry of China a possibility.
“It was Masa that brought Bill Gates to Japan, it was Masa that brought Jerry Yang to Japan. It was Masa that made possible for China’s cloud industry to happen – Alibaba. It was Masa that brought Steve Jobs to Japan and the iPhone, and many of you probably don’t know this, but at one point, Masa was the largest shareholder of Nvidia,” said the Nvidia head.
Huang also asked the SoftBank chief how he chooses the innovators and creators of each technology revolution in computing’s history and his ability to keep a 100 per cent track record.
“Well, I think I was just lucky. I was born at the right time, and I met with great entrepreneurs,” said Masayoshi Son, responding to Huang’s question.
