The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant

by Tae Kim

One well-known example occurred when Nvidia was making one of its first plays in the mobile phone and tablet market, with the Tegra 3 chip. At a company all-hands meeting in 2011, Jensen asked the cameraman to repeatedly zoom in on the project manager of Tegra 3, a man named Mike Rayfield, as Jensen gave him feedback. While everyone in the audience got a good look at Rayfield’s face, Jensen launched into him. “Mike,” he said, “you need to get Tegra done. You got to tape Tegra out. Guys, this is an example of how not to run a business.” “It was the most embarrassing, humiliating thing I’ve ever seen,” another former Nvidia employee said. When asked about the incident, Rayfield later said in an e-mail, “That was not the only ass kicking I got [from Jensen],” with a smiley face at the end of his comment. Less than a year after the Tegra chip came out—nearly eight months behind schedule—he left Nvidia. He wasn’t pushed out; he resigned voluntarily.