On a Wednesday afternoon in May, Colette Kress kicked off an investor conference call by talking through the latest financials at Nvidia. The chief financial officer of the chip maker discussed the first quarter revenue figures, and how the company’s clients, ranging from big tech behemoths to insurance firms and game makers, were using Nvidia’s chips to adopt generative AI systems.“Let me turn to the outlook for the second quarter,” Kress said.
Instantly, Nvidia’s market capitalization added $200 billion and nearly reached $1 trillion, as the stock rose by 25% in after-hours trading. For many on Wall Street, Kress’s guidance was proof that the AI boom was real and the stock market soared in the days and weeks that followed. Nvidia would end up surpassing Kress’ projections and she has continued to make ever loftier sales and profit predictions since.
The AI story that has dominated markets started with Sam Altman, who in November 2022 made a rare and unilateral decision at his company, releasing a stunning AI Chatbot into the world. In the months since the launch of ChatGPT, every corner of society from business to education, has been reckoning with its implications.
Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft MSFT, +1.06%, accomplished what was thought by some to be impossible, turning the company around by focusing on the cloud. In doing so, Nadella put Microsoft back near the top of the technology mountain. Now, Nadella has found his second Big Idea: Artificial intelligence. By investing in OpenAI and incorporating its technology into key Microsoft products, Nadella overcame a perceived AI lead by Google and turned Microsoft into an AI figurehead.