The Thinking Machine

Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip

By: Stephen Witt

Narrated by: Stephen Witt

Winner of the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award

Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Economist

“Framed as a biography of Jensen Huang, the only CEO Nvidia has ever had, the book is also something more interesting and revealing: a window onto the intellectual, cultural, and economic ecosystem that has led to the emergence of superpowerful AI.” —James Surowiecki, The Atlantic

“A lively biography. . . . The story of how Nvidia became the hottest investment on Wall Street and a household name is fascinating.” —Katie Notopoulos, The New York Times Book Review

Nvidia is as valuable as Apple and Microsoft. It has shaped the world as we know it. But its story is little known. This is the definitive story of the greatest technology company of our times.

In June of 2024, thirty-one years after its founding in a Denny’s restaurant, Nvidia became the most valuable corporation on Earth. The Thinking Machine is the astonishing story of how a designer of video game equipment conquered the market for AI hardware, and in the process re-invented the computer.

Essential to Nvidia’s meteoric success is its visionary CEO Jensen Huang, who more than a decade ago, on the basis of a few promising scientific results, bet his entire company on AI. Through unprecedented access to Huang, his friends, his investors, and his employees, Witt documents for the first time the company’s epic rise and its single-minded and ferocious leader, now one of Silicon Valley’s most influential figures.

The Thinking Machine is the story of how Nvidia evolved to supplying hundred-million-dollar supercomputers. It is the story of a determined entrepreneur who defied Wall Street to push his radical vision for computing, becoming one of the wealthiest men alive. It is the story of a revolution in computer architecture, and the small group of renegade engineers who made it happen. And it’s the story of our awesome and terrifying AI future, which Huang has billed as the ‘next industrial revolution,’ as a new kind of microchip unlocks hyper-realistic avatars, autonomous robots, self-driving cars, and new movies, art, and books, generated on command.

This is the story of the company that is inventing the future.

So good, it read like a movie, I bet it becomes one.

This book and Jensen's unpredictable journey are fascinating. Jensen, Nvidia and the future of AI will continue to evolve, but the story with all the collateral interviews of how it all came to be is riveting--even if you don't work in tech.

However, if you DO work in tech, AND happened to have ever had the life distorting opportunity of working with an unconventional, non linear, tech founder who is relentlessly vision driven and seemingly oblivious to common rationale or life events that are not obsessively committed to that vision, then you may find this book validating and inspiring.

The author's decision to read it himself was spot on. I could see the interviews in my mind's eye because of his subtle inflections and the details he infused in every chapter.

The book offers insight into the technology that is radically altering our existence. We've all heard or thought about the concerns of AI, but I thought Jensen's view on these concerns, and that he isn't a scifi guy, well, it was really interesting.

Mind-blowing!

An incredible tale of Jensen Huang’s life, coupled with that of the world’s most valuable company. The magnitude of achievement is staggering, and the future implications defy comprehension. Highly recommended!

Wow

This book was incredibly written and I thought the voice of the reader was great. I feel like I have been given a first hand look at the start of this AI revolution

Lots of great history

So this was a very interesting listen. I think of NVidia as the new AI company... but there is so much history there. This isn't just a flash in the pan company. So many tough decisions along the way

From the days of early 3d graphics in the early 80’s to today’s crazy AI technology.

Takes a very complicated concepts and makes them easily digestible. A close look at a very driven and lucky man. Intelligence was only one piece of the puzzle. Well worth the time.