Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang’s wealth has surged as a blistering rally in AI-related stocks pushed the chip-maker’s market value above Amazon.com’s and Alphabet’s for the first time.
The same rally has minted another billionaire in Huang’s own family: his distant cousin Lisa Su, CEO of Nvidia competitor AMD, who’s worth US$1.2-billion after the stock doubled over the past year.
Two chip-maker billionaires in one family illustrates the scope of the artificial intelligence craze, which has come to dominate the stock market and accounts for most of the wealth gained by the world’s richest people this year.
Among the 500 wealthiest individuals, 30 attribute at least some of their fortune to companies that are tracked by the Bloomberg Global Artificial Intelligence Index. Those holdings have boosted their net worth by a combined $124-billion so far this year, accounting for 96% of the total wealth gained on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The biggest winners include Huang and Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta Platforms is the second-best performer on the S&P 500 Index after Nvidia for the second year in a row. Steve Ballmer has ridden the wave of optimism that accompanied Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, while Michael Dell has seen his fortune surge thanks in part to AI initiatives at Dell Technologies and Broadcom.
Billionaire bull run
Su isn’t the only new billionaire to emerge from the surge: Charles Liang, co-founder of Super Micro Computer, has seen his fortune triple to $6.2-billion this year as his company’s stock has easily eclipsed the returns of other AI-related shares. And Palantir Technologies co-founder Alex Karp’s net worth is $2.8-billion after the maker of AI-powered software’s shares jumped 31% in a single day last week following strong quarterly earnings.
Other billionaires have indirectly benefited. SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son’s net worth has risen by $3.7-billion this year after chip maker ARM Holdings nearly doubled in three trading sessions following earnings that showed AI spending is bolstering sales. ARM is 90% owned by SoftBank.
Read: ARM Holdings adds to staggering AI-powered rally
The magnitude of the gains is raising questions about the rally’s sustainability. Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett said earlier this month the rush into tech stocks is beginning to resemble the dot-com bubble. — Vernal Galpotthawela and Jack Witzig, with Jessica Menton, (c) 2024 Bloomberg LP
