NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was awarded the National Medal of Science during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on October 8. This prestigious honor, presented by President Donald Trump at the Golden Age of American Innovation Summit, recognizes Huang’s contributions in transforming the graphics processing unit (GPU) from a simple graphics chip into a vital computing engine that supports modern artificial intelligence (AI) and scientific research.
In his introduction of Huang, Trump stated, “The entire world is now running on NVIDIA,” highlighting Huang’s role in establishing the foundations for advancements in superintelligence and positioning the United States as a leader in technology. This award has been bestowed since 1963, and it marked its first presentation to an individual by Trump in his second term.
The transformation of GPUs, initially designed for rendering video game graphics, now plays a crucial role in AI training due to their capacity to perform thousands of calculations simultaneously. Huang’s work has paved the way for NVIDIA’s CUDA platform, introduced in 2006, which allows researchers to leverage this computational power for diverse applications, including drug discovery and deep learning.
Huang was one of several notable figures honored at the ceremony. Other recipients of the National Medal of Science included Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and AMD CEO Lisa Su. Additionally, Dell founder Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, emphasizing the significant contributions from various leaders in the tech industry.
During the event, eleven technology companies pledged a total of $2.4 billion to support AI tools and computing credits for the government’s Genesis Mission. NVIDIA’s commitment was the largest, with a pledge of $1 billion over five years to advance AI and quantum computing research. This adds to Huang’s accolades, which include the IEEE Medal of Honor in 2026 and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2025.
As Huang continues to receive recognition for his work, NVIDIA’s influence on the tech landscape is further solidified through both individual and corporate commitments to advancing AI technologies.
