Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang once gave a 14-year-old a surprisingly candid look at his childhood, admitting he was a mischievous, restless kid who loved taking things apart, building things and setting things on fire.

Jensen Huang Wasn’t Exactly a Model Kid

In a 2014 interview with eighth-grader Elijah Rogers of the Dallas International School, Huang was asked whether he already knew at 14 that he wanted to become an engineer.

His answer was anything but conventional.

Huang joked that if he were Rogers’ mother, he probably would not want him hearing too much about what Huang was doing at that age.

He then described himself as "a rambunctious kid" and admitted, "I wasn’t a particularly good kid. I just turned out good."

Huang said his curiosity often got him into trouble. He recalled setting things on fire, gluing things together, blowing things up, digging holes and building things.

But beneath the mischief was a strong interest in academics, particularly mathematics.

"I always cared deeply about grades," Huang said, adding that math was probably his favorite subject.

Why Jensen Huang Chose Engineering

Huang said he eventually gravitated toward engineering because it combined his love of math with his desire to understand, build and create things.

"For somebody who has an analytical mind, who likes to build things, who likes to make things the world’s never seen," Huang explained, engineering was the "perfect, perfect, perfect career."

He said he knew from a young age that he wanted to pursue analytical fields involving math and science, even though he did not necessarily have a specific career mapped out.

Jensen Huang’s Rise to Nvidia CEO

Huang has a real-time net worth of $181.4 billion, ranking him as the No. 8 richest person in the world, according to Forbes. Nvidia currently has a market capitalization of $5.07 trillion.

He co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has served as the company’s CEO and president ever since.

Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to Thailand as a child before his family sent him and his brother to the U.S. as political unrest intensified.

Under his leadership, Nvidia’s graphics processors evolved from powering video games to becoming a cornerstone of the AI boom.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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