黃仁勳台大演講中英文版全文逐字稿

NVIDIA 創辦人黃仁勳(Jensen Huang)5/27 受邀至台大畢業典禮擔任致詞貴賓。以下是演講中英全文。

黃仁勳台大畢業典禮演講全文(中文版)

各位女士、先生,老師,來賓,驕傲的父母們,以及 2023 年國立台灣大學的畢業生們,今天對你們來說是非常特別的一天,也是你們父母夢想成真的一天。你們應該快點從家裡搬出去,這確實是一個充滿驕傲和喜悅的日子!

你們的父母為了今天做出許多犧牲,我的父母、哥哥也在這裡,讓我們向所有的父母和祖父母們表達感謝。

十多年前,我第一次來到台灣大學,陳博士邀請我參觀他的實驗室。他的兒子在矽谷工作,知道 NVIDIA 的 CUDA,推薦爸爸用它來做量子物理模擬實驗。我在這個實驗室看到滿滿的 NVIDIA GeForce 遊戲顯卡,插在 PC 主機板上,走道上的架子開著好幾台電扇在散熱。

陳博士以遊戲顯卡用台灣人的方式自製了超級電腦,這是一個展開 NVIDIA 旅程的故事,他以自己的努力為榮,也對我說:「黃先生,因為你的產品,讓我能追尋我的志業。」

這句話至今仍讓我感動不已,它抓住了我們公司的使命,就是幫助我們這個時代的愛因斯坦和達文西們完成他們的志業。

我很高興能回到台大在你們的畢業典禮致詞。當時我從 Oregon State University 畢業的時候,世界還很簡單,沒有液晶電視,也沒有有線電視跟 MTV,手機和電話這兩個詞是分開講的。

那一年是 1984 年,IBM PC-AT 和蘋果 Macintosh 開啟個人電腦革命,也開創了我們所知的晶片和軟體產業。現在你們所處的是一個更複雜的世界,充滿了地緣政治、社會和環境的變化和挑戰。

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因為科技,我們能持續連線,沉浸在一個與現實世界平行的數位世界裡,汽車也能自動駕駛了。

AI 會創造過去不存在的新工作,每個人都要學習掌握 AI 紅利

在電腦產業創造了家用個人電腦 40 年後,我們發明了人工智慧,例如自動駕駛或辨識 X 光影像的軟體,AI 軟體為電腦自動化打開了大門,也開啟了價值數兆美元的產業——醫療保健,金融服務,運輸和製造業等等,AI 創造了各種機會。

敏捷的公司利用 AI 提升他們的地位,反之,那些落後的公司將會滅亡。正在聽這場演講的創業家們也將開創新事業,如同過去每一個運算時代,新的產業會出現。

AI 創造過去不存在的新工作,像資料工程,提示工程,AI 廠房營運與 AI 安全工程師等等。

這些都是以前沒有的工作,有些工作會因為自動化而過時了,但可以肯定的是,AI 將改變每一個工作,讓工程師、設計師、藝術家、行銷人員還有製造業的擘畫者有更好的表現。

就像過去每個世代的人一樣,他們擁抱新技術然後成功了,每一家公司,包括你們,都要學著掌握 AI 的紅利,讓 AI 成為你的副駕駛,做出驚人的事業。

有些人擔心 AI 可能會搶走他們的工作,其實,是擅長使用 AI 的「人」會搶走這些人的工作。我們處在重大科技時代的開端,像 PC,網路,手機和雲端等等。

但是 AI 的技術更基本,因為每個運算的層次都被重新打造,從我們如何寫軟體到它如何運作,AI 從根本上重新創造了運算方式。

從各個層面來看,這是電腦產業的重生,對台灣企業來說,這也是個千載難逢的機會。你們就是電腦產業的基石,在未來的十年,我們的產業將以全新、加速的 AI 技術取代全球超過一兆美元的傳統電腦市場。

NVIDIA 的第一個故事:面對錯誤,勇於求助

我的旅程比你們早 40 年開始,1984 年是畢業的好時節,我預期 2023 年也是如此。在你們的旅程開始之時,我該分享些什麼呢?今天是你們人生中最成功的一天,你們要從台大畢業了。我畢業那天也是個成功人士,直到我創辦 NVIDIA 為止。

在 NVIDIA,我經歷了失敗,非常大的失敗。那段歷程充滿羞辱和尷尬,公司幾乎要完蛋。讓我跟你們說三個關於 NVIDIA 的故事,這些故事定義了今日的 NVIDIA。

我們創辦 NVIDIA 來打造加速計算,我們第一個技術是 PC 遊戲的 3D 圖形。我們創造了一種非傳統的 3D 技術,它叫前向材質貼圖和曲線(forward texture mapping and curves)。這個技術的成本明顯較低,因此我們拿到了 SEGA 主機的合約,我們的平台吸引了遊戲製造商,也拿到資金。

經過一年的開發,我們發現這個架構策略錯了,而且微軟發佈了 Windows 95 Direct 3D,這是基於逆材質貼圖和三角(inverse texture mapping and triangles)的技術。

很多公司已經在開發支援這個標準的 3D 晶片,如果我們硬要完成 SEGA 的合約,我們的技術不僅不怎麼樣,跟  Windows 不相容,而且還追趕不上。但是,如果我們不履行合約,就會一毛錢也拿不到。不論如何,公司都會破產。

我跟 SEGA 的 CEO 說,公司技術開發方向錯了,SEGA 應該要換合作夥伴,因為我們無法履行合約,這個合作應該要終止。但我們需要 SEGA 的錢,不然 NVIDIA 就要倒閉了。

我很難為情地跟 SEGA 的 CEO 入交昭一郎(Irimajiri Shoichiro)提出這樣的要求, 讓我很驚訝的是,他竟然同意了。

他的理解和慷慨讓我們能再活六個月。因為這個機會,我們打造了 RIVA 128。就在我們快要把錢燒光的時候,RIVA 128 讓剛起步的 3D 市場驚豔不已,我們被看見了,公司也活下來了。

我們的晶片在市場需求強勁,四歲就離開台灣的我又回到這裡,跟台積電的張忠謀見面,開啟了持續 25 年的合作關係。

面對自己犯下的錯,並以謙遜的態度向他人求助,這兩件事挽救 NVIDIA 免於倒閉,這樣的態度對你們這些聰明又成功的人來說是最困難的。

NVIDIA 的第二個故事:為了實現願景必然要忍受痛苦

2007 年,我們發表了 CUDA GPU 加速計算。我們的目標是讓 CUDA 成為一種程式設計模型,能加速科學運算、物理模擬、影像處理的應用。

從無到有創造一個全新的運算模型非常困難,過去很少人能做得到。CPU 運算模型自IBM System 360 以來已成為世人的標準,它有 60 年的歷史了。CUDA 需要開發者撰寫應用程式,並展示這款 GPU 的優點。

開發者需要龐大的安裝基礎,大型 CUDA 安裝基礎設施需要用戶購買新的應用程式。為了解決先有雞還是先有蛋的問題,我們使用遊戲 GPU,也就是 GeForce 來建立安裝基礎,因為它已經有大量的遊戲玩家市場。

但 CUDA 的額外成本非常高,NVIDIA 的利潤多年來表現不佳,我們的市值僅略高於10 億美元。多年的低迷表現,讓我們的股東懷疑 CUDA 的能耐,他們希望我們專心提高獲利能力,但我們仍然堅持做想做的事。

我們相信加速運算的時代終將來臨,我們開始辦 GTC 大會,也努力向全球推廣CUDA,接著各式應用開始出現了。

從震測處理、CT 重建、分子動力學、粒子物理學、流體動力學到影像處理,各種科學研究領域一個接著一個使用我們的技術。我們與每一位開發者合作撰寫他們的演算法,因此進步非常快,到了 2012 年,AI 研究者發現了 CUDA。

大家熟知的 AlexNet 是在 GeForce GTX 580 上訓練的,AI 技術開始大爆發。幸運的是,我們知道深度學習深具潛力,我們公司傾全力開發這個新領域的技術。我們冒上一切風險追求深度學習。10 年後,AI 革命開始了,現在的 NVIDIA 是全球 AI 開發者的引擎。

我們打造了 CUDA 並在加速運算和 AI 領域成為領導者,這個旅程塑造了 NVIDIA 的企業性格,為了實現願景必然要忍受痛苦與經歷磨難。

NVIDIA 的第三個故事:有策略的撤退,決定什麼不去做

讓我再說一個故事。2010 年,Google 打算將 Android 開發成一款具有優秀圖形的行動電腦。手機產業已有了數據機專業的晶片公司,NVIDIA 的運算和圖形專業使我們成為與 Android 合作的理想夥伴,我們因而進入了手機晶片市場。

我們很快的成功了,業務跟股價一起飆升,競爭對手也蜂湧而至。數據機晶片製造商學習如何製造運算晶片,而我們也在學習如何製造數據機。

手機市場非常大,我們可以競爭市佔率,但我們沒有這麼做,我們決定放棄這個市場。

NVIDIA 的使命是打造出一款電腦,它能解決一般電腦不能解決的問題。我們應該全力以赴實現這個願景,並做出獨特的貢獻。

我們有策略的撤退最終得到了回報。離開了手機市場,我們不畫地自限,而是創造了一個新的市場。我們創造一款新型的電腦,為機器人計算提供服務。這款新型電腦搭載神經網路處理器,有安全的結構進行 AI 演算。

在當時,這是一個零億美元的市場,我們離開了龐大的手機市場,跑去創立一個 0 元的機器人市場。

現在的 NVIDIA 的有數十億美元的汽車和機器人業務,並開創了一個新的產業。

放棄對你們這樣聰明又成功的人來說並不容易。然而,有策略的撤退,犧牲,決定什麼不要做,不就是成功的核心嗎?

2023 年的畢業生們,你們將進入正在經歷巨變的世界,就像當年的我身處 PC 和晶片革命之中一樣,你們站在 AI 的起跑線上,每一個行業都將歷經革命,浴火重生。

你要為創新做好準備,擁有自己的想法。這 40 年來,人類創造 PC、網路、手機、雲端技術,現在則進入了 AI 時代。

你想創造什麼呢?不管是什麼,跟我們一樣跑起來追逐它吧!跑起來,別用走的。記得,跑起來做個掠食者,或是跑起來避免被掠食。

我希望這段話可以用中文講,所以大家可以聽得懂。

跑起來掠食,或是努力奔跑免得成為掠食者的食物。

大多時候,你很難區別這兩者。不管怎麼樣,跑起來吧!在你自己的旅程中,帶上我今天跟你分享的經驗:謙虛地面對失敗,承認錯誤,向他人求助。為了實現夢想,你將承受痛苦與磨難。為了人生的使命與志業,你得做出犧牲並全心投入。

2023 年的畢業生們,我誠摯的祝福你們每一位。加油!

Full Transcript: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's Commencement Address at National Taiwan University

Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed faculty members, distinguished guests, proud parents, and above all, the 2023 graduating class of the National Taiwan University. Today is a very special day for you, and a dream come true for your parents.

You should be moving out soon. It is surely a day of pride and joy.So, your parents have made sacrifices to see you on this day.  My parents are here, and so is my brother. Let's show all of our parents and our grandparents, many of them are here, our appreciation.

I came to NTU for the first time over a decade ago.  Dr. Chen invited me to visit his computational physics lab. As I recall, his son, based in Silicon Valley, had learned of NVIDIA's CUDA invention and recommended his father utilize it for his quantum physics simulations.

When I arrived, he opened the door to show me what he had made. NVIDIA GeForce gaming cards filled the room, plugged into open PC motherboards, and sitting on metal shelves in the aisles were oscillating platform fans.

Dr. Chen had built a homemade supercomputer, the Taiwanese Way, out of gaming graphics cards. He started here, an early example of NVIDIA's journey.
He was so proud, and he said to me, Mr. Huang, because of your work, I can do my life's work. Those words touch me to this day, and perfectly capture our company's purpose, to help the Einstein and Da Vinci of our time do their life's work.

I am so happy to be back at NTU, and to be your commencement address.  The world was simpler when I graduated from Oregon State University.  TVs were not flat yet. There was no cable television, and MTV.

And the words mobile and phone didn't go together. The year was 1984. The IBM PC-AT and Apple Macintosh launched the PC revolution.

And started the chip and software industry that we know today. You enter a far more complex world, with geopolitical, social, and environmental changes and challenges.

Surrounded by technology, we are now perpetually connected, and immersed in a digital world that parallels our real world. Cars are starting to drive by themselves.

AI will create new jobs that didn't exist before

Forty years after the computer industry created the home PC, we invented artificial intelligence. Like software that automatically drives a car, or studies x-ray images, AI software has opened the door for computers to automate tasks for the world's largest, multi-trillion dollars of industries.

Healthcare, financial services, transportation, and manufacturing. AI has opened immense opportunities.

Agile companies will take advantage of AI, and boost their position.  Companies less so, will perish. Entrepreneurs, many of them here today, will start new companies.

And like in every computing era before, create new industries.  AI will create new jobs that didn't exist before. Like data engineering, prompt engineering, AI factory operations, and AI safety engineers.

These are jobs that never existed before.  Automated tasks will obsolete some jobs.  And for sure, AI will change every job. Supercharging the performance of programmers, designers, artists, marketers, and manufacturing planners.

Just as every generation before you embraced technologies to succeed, every company, and you, must learn to take advantage of AI. And do amazing things with an AI co-pilot by your side.

While some worry that AI may take their jobs, someone who expert with AI will. We are at the beginning of a major technology era, like PC, internet, mobile, and cloud.  But AI is far more fundamental because every computing layer has been reinvented, from how we write software to how it's processed.

AI has reinvented computing from the ground up.  In every way, this is a rebirth of the computer industry. And a golden opportunity for the companies of Taiwan.

You are the foundation and bedrock of the computer industry. Within the next decade, our industry will replace over a trillion dollars of the world's traditional computers with new, accelerated AI computers.

The first story of NVIDIA: Confronting mistakes and asking for help

My journey started 40 years before yours.  1984 was a perfect year to graduate. I predict that 2023 will be as well.

What can I tell you as you begin your journey?  Today is the most successful day of your life so far.  You're graduating from the National Taiwan University. I was also successful until I started NVIDIA.

At NVIDIA, I experienced failures.  Great big ones.  All humiliating and embarrassing. Many nearly doomed us.

Let me tell you three NVIDIA stories that define us today.

We founded NVIDIA to create accelerated computing. Our first application was 3D graphics for PC gaming.

We invented an unconventional 3D approach called forward texture mapping and curves.  Our approach was substantially lower cost. We won a contract with SEGA to build their game console, which attracted games for our platform and funded our company.

After one year of development, we realized our architecture was the wrong strategy.  It was technically poor. And Microsoft was about to announce Windows 95 Direct 3D based on inverse texture mapping and triangles.

Many companies were already working on 3D chips to support this standard. If we completed SEGA's game console, we would have built inferior technology, be incompatible with Windows, and be too far behind to catch up.

But we would be out of money if we didn't finish the contract.  Either way, we would be out of business. I contacted the CEO of SEGA and explained that our invention was the wrong approach.

That SEGA should find another partner.  And that we could not complete the contract and the console.  We had to stop. But I needed Sega to pay us in whole. Or NVIDIA would be out of business.

I was embarrassed to ask. Irimajiri-san, the CEO of SEGA, to his credit and my amazement, agreed.

His understanding and generosity gave us six months to live.  With that, we built RIVA 128.  Just as we were running out of money. RIVA 128 shocked the young 3D market, put us on the map, and saved the company.

The strong demand for our chip led me back to Taiwan after leaving at the age of four to meet Morris Chang at TSMC and started a partnership that has lasted 25 years. Confronting our mistake and with humility asking for help, save NVIDIA.

These traits are the hardest for the brightest and most successful like yourself.

The second story of NVIDIA: Endure pain and suffering needed to realize your dreams

In 2007, we announced CUDA GPU Accelerated Computing. Our aspiration was for CUDA to become a programming model that boosts applications from scientific computing and physics simulations to image processing. Creating a new computing model is incredibly hard and rarely done in history.

The CPU computing model has been the standard for 60 years since the IBM System 360. CUDA needed developers to write applications and demonstrate the benefits of the GPU.

Developers needed a large installed base.  A large CUDA installed base needed customers buying new applications. To solve the chicken or the egg problem, we used GeForce, our gaming GPU, which already had a large market of gamers, to build the installed base.

But the added cost of CUDA was very high.  NVIDIA's profits took a huge hit for many years. Our market cap hovered just above $1 billion.
We suffered many years of poor performance.  Our shareholders were skeptical of CUDA.  And preferred we focused on improving profitability. But we persevered.

We believed a time for accelerated computing would come.  We created a conference called GTC and promoted CUDA tirelessly worldwide. Then the applications came.

Seismic processing, CT reconstruction, molecular dynamics, particle physics, fluid dynamics, and image processing. One science domain after another, they came.

We worked with each developer to write their algorithms and achieved incredible speedups. Then, in 2012, AI researchers discovered CUDA.

The famous AlexNet trained on GeForce GTX 580 started the Big Bang of AI. Fortunately, we realized the potential of deep learning as a whole new software approach. And turned every aspect of our company to advance this new field.

We risked everything to pursue deep learning. A decade later, the AI revolution started. And NVIDIA is the engine of AI developers worldwide.

We invented CUDA and pioneered accelerated computing and AI. But the journey forged our corporate character to endure the pain and suffering that is always needed to realize a vision.

The third story of NVIDIA: Strategic retreat

One more story. In 2010, Google aimed to develop Android into a mobile computer with excellent graphics.

The phone industry had chip companies with modem expertise.  NVIDIA's computing and graphics expertise made us an ideal partner to help build Android. So we entered the mobile chip market.

We were instantly successful.  And our business and stock price surged.  The competition quickly swarmed. Modem chip makers were learning how to build computing chips. And we were learning how to build modems.

The phone market is huge.  We could fight for share. Instead, we made a hard decision and sacrificed the market.

NVIDIA's mission is to build computers to solve problems that ordinary computers cannot.  We should dedicate ourselves to realizing our vision and to making a unique contribution.

Our strategic retreat paid off.  By leaving the phone market, we opened our minds to invent a new one. We imagined creating a new type of computer for robotic computers.With neural network processor, safety architectures that run AI algorithms.

At the time, this was a zero billion dollar market. To retreat from a giant phone market to create a zero billion dollar robotics market. We now have billions of dollars of automotive and robotics business and started a new industry. Retreat does not come easily to the brightest and most successful people like yourself.

Yet, strategic retreat, sacrifice, deciding what to give up, is that a core, the very core of success?

Class of 2023, you're about to go into a world witnessing great change. And just as I was with the PC and chip revolution, you're at the beginning, at the starting line of AI.  Every industry will be revolutionized. Reborn.

Ready for new ideas. Your ideas. In 40 years, we created the PC, internet, mobile, cloud, and now the AI era.

What will you create?  Whatever it is, run after it like we did.  Run.  Don't walk. Remember, either you're running for food, or you are running from being food.

I hope that part can be translated into Chinese so that everyone can understand.

Either you're running for food, or you are running from becoming food.

And oftentimes, you can't tell which.  Either way, run.  And for your journey, take along some of my learnings. That you will have the humility to confront failure, admit a mistake, and ask for help.

You will endure pain and suffering needed to realize your dreams. And you will make sacrifices to dedicate yourself to a life of purpose and doing your life's work.

Class of 2023, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to each one of you.  Jiayou!

 

核稿編輯:李柏鋒

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