At the New York Times DealBook Summit on 29 November 2023, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang told Andrew Ross Sorkin that AI capable of passing tests that reflect basic human intelligence could arrive within about five years, depending on how artificial general intelligence is defined. He also said the United States was at least a decade away from full independence from China in its chip supply chain, and described Nvidia's culture as one that still behaves as if the company is close to failure. The full interview is embedded below, followed by a summary of the main themes and why they matter for the chip industry.
Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, the leading maker of chips for artificial intelligence, discusses rising competition in the industry and why he enjoys living in a "state where we're about to perish." The interview was conducted by Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times at the annual DealBook Summit, recorded live in front of an audience at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. Read more about highlights from the day at The New York Times DealBook Summit coverage.
Key takeaways
- On AGI: Huang said that if AGI means software that can pass a wide range of tests at a level fairly competitive with a normal human, it could be about five years away. He stressed that the answer depends on the definition.
- On supply chains: he said full US independence from China in the semiconductor supply chain was at least ten years away, while calling the effort worthwhile.
- On chip design: he agreed that AI is already part of how Nvidia designs its chips, and said the company's current chips would not be possible without it.
- On competition: he acknowledged that rivals and customers were building their own AI chips, and described a company culture that assumes it can fail at any time.
These points are summarised from the video and from press coverage published on 29 and 30 November 2023. They reflect what was said at the time and have not been updated for later events.
What was discussed
Artificial general intelligence and its definition
Sorkin pressed Huang on when AGI might arrive. Huang's answer turned on definitions: if the bar is a system that does well on a broad set of tests of reasoning and knowledge, the kind of tests used to assess people, he expected that within about five years. Commentators noted that this is a narrower bar than many people mean by AGI, so the five-year figure should be read with the definition attached.
Supply chain independence
Asked about efforts to move chip manufacturing away from China and Taiwan, Huang said complete independence of the US supply chain was at least a decade away. He described the push as necessary but pointed out how deep and interlinked the global semiconductor supply chain is: materials, equipment, packaging, assembly and test are spread across many countries.
Competition and culture
The video's title line refers to Huang's view that Nvidia should act as though it is always close to the edge. He has said in many interviews that the company nearly failed in its early years, and that the sense of urgency from that period is part of its culture. At the summit he discussed how hyperscalers and other chip companies were developing their own AI accelerators, and why he believed Nvidia's full-stack approach of chips, systems, networking and software would keep it competitive.
AI designing chips
Huang agreed that AI tools are already used in chip design and said Nvidia's chips could not be built today without them. For engineers, this is a useful marker: machine learning was already embedded in EDA flows for tasks such as placement, routing optimisation, verification and lithography by late 2023.
Why it matters for the semiconductor industry
| Theme from the interview | What it means for chip makers |
|---|---|
| AI demand and the AGI timeline | Continued investment in data centre accelerators, high-bandwidth memory and advanced packaging capacity |
| Supply chain independence a decade away | Multi-region manufacturing plans take many years, so near-term supply still depends on Asia |
| AI in chip design | EDA flows increasingly rely on machine learning, and design teams need people who can use those tools well |
| Custom chips from customers | Competition for AI silicon widens beyond traditional chip companies to cloud providers |
FAQ
When and where was this interview recorded?
On 29 November 2023, at the New York Times DealBook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, with Andrew Ross Sorkin as interviewer.
Did Jensen Huang say AGI would arrive in five years?
He said it could, if AGI is defined as AI that is fairly competitive with a normal human on a broad set of tests. He made clear that a different definition would give a different answer.
What did he say about US chip independence from China?
That full independence of the supply chain was at least a decade away, although the effort was worth making.
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