NVIDIA vs SK Hynix: Founders, CEOs and History
NVIDIA was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, Curtis Priem and is led by Jensen Huang. SK Hynix was founded in 1983 by Chung Ju-yung and is led by Kwak Noh-jung.
Company facts
Founders
NVIDIA
Jensen Huang
Nvidia possesses a gritty, prescient founding story, rooted entirely in a specific, technical conversation at a well-known American diner, and driven by a CEO who possessed an unshakable conviction in an unproven computational theory.
Chris Malachowsky
Chris Malachowsky co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and became a central figure in the company's technical foundation.
Curtis Priem
Curtis Priem co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and served as one of the company's original architects.
SK Hynix
Chung Ju-yung
Chung Ju-yung (1915-2001) founded Hyundai Electronics in 1983 as part of his massive industrial conglomerate. He pushed the company aggressively into the highly capital-intensive semiconductor business.
CEOs and their tenures
NVIDIA
- Jensen Huang1993–present
CEO
Huang has been CEO for more than 33 years, which makes him one of the longest-serving founder-CEOs in the industry. Under him NVIDIA bet early on CUDA and deep learning, bought Mellanox for networking, and moved to a yearly architecture cadence.
Source - Chris Malachowsky1993–2024
Co-Founder
Chris Malachowsky co-founded Nvidia in 1993. As Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations, he played a critical role in developing the early graphics processing architecture and establishing Nvidia's robust engineering supply chain.
Source - Colette Kress2013–present
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
She has been CFO through NVIDIA's growth from about $4B of annual revenue to $215.9B in FY2026, and she leads its quarterly earnings communication with investors.
Source
SK Hynix
- Chey Tae-won2012–present
Chairman, SK Group
His aggressive capital injection transformed the struggling chipmaker into SK Hynix, securing the resources needed to eventually dominate the global High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market.
Source - Lee Seok-hee2018–2022
Former Chief Executive Officer
As CEO, he navigated brutal US-China semiconductor trade restrictions while maintaining massive capital expenditures in next-generation DRAM facilities.
Source - Kwak Noh-jung2022–present
President and Chief Executive Officer
Kwak joined Hyundai Electronics in 1994 and became CEO in March 2022. He led the company through the 2023 downturn, the HBM3E and HBM4 ramps, FY2025 revenue of ~$69B (KRW 97.15T), and the July 2026 Nasdaq ADR listing.
Source
Timeline: NVIDIA and SK Hynix side by side
1983SK Hynix
Hyundai Electronics Founded
Hyundai Group establishes Hyundai Electronics in Icheon, South Korea, entering the semiconductor memory market with DRAM manufacturing capabilities.
1992SK Hynix
First 64Mb DRAM Chip
Hyundai Electronics becomes one of the first companies globally to develop a 64Mb DRAM chip, establishing its position as a high-quality memory manufacturer.
1993NVIDIA
Founding in Santa Clara
Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem founded NVIDIA on April 5, 1993, with a focus on 3D graphics for gaming and multimedia. The founding set the company on a parallel-processing path long before AI infrastructure became the main market.
1999NVIDIA
GPU Category Defined
NVIDIA introduced the graphics processing unit concept in 1999. The milestone mattered because it framed graphics hardware as a specialized processor, a technical idea that later carried into accelerated computing and AI workloads.
1999SK Hynix
Merger With LG Semicon
Hyundai Electronics merged with LG Semicon in 1999.
2001SK Hynix
Renamed Hynix Semiconductor
Following Hyundai Group's financial restructuring, the semiconductor unit is renamed Hynix Semiconductor and undergoes creditor-led turnaround.
2006NVIDIA
CUDA Opens GPUs to General Computing
CUDA opened GPU parallel processing to scientists, researchers, and developers outside graphics. It became the software foundation that made NVIDIA hardware useful for machine learning, simulation, and other compute-heavy workloads.
2012NVIDIA
AlexNet Shows GPU Value for Deep Learning
The AlexNet breakthrough used NVIDIA GPUs to win the ImageNet competition. The event helped convince researchers and engineers that GPUs could accelerate neural-network training at a scale CPUs could not match.
2012SK Hynix
SK Group Acquisition
SK Group acquires a controlling stake in Hynix Semiconductor for approximately $3.4 billion, renaming it SK Hynix Inc. and integrating it into the SK conglomerate.
2016NVIDIA
DGX-1 AI Supercomputer
Nvidia introduced the DGX-1 deep-learning supercomputer in 2016, its first system built specifically for artificial intelligence.
2018NVIDIA
RTX Brings Real-Time Ray Tracing to Graphics
NVIDIA RTX brought real-time ray tracing into the company's graphics roadmap. The product line kept gaming and professional visualization tied to AI-enhanced rendering while Data Center was becoming more important.
2018SK Hynix
Stake in Toshiba Memory
SK Hynix joined the Bain Capital consortium that bought Toshiba Memory, now Kioxia, in 2018.
2020NVIDIA
Mellanox Acquisition Adds Networking
NVIDIA completed the Mellanox acquisition for about $7 billion. The deal mattered because large AI and high-performance-computing clusters depend on fast networking between accelerators, not only on individual GPU speed.
2020SK Hynix
Intel NAND Business Acquisition
SK Hynix announces acquisition of Intel's NAND flash memory and SSD business for $9 billion, significantly expanding its NAND market share.
2022NVIDIA
Arm Acquisition Terminated
NVIDIA and SoftBank terminated the proposed Arm acquisition because of significant regulatory challenges. The failed deal showed how closely governments watch control points in semiconductor architecture.
2022NVIDIA
Hopper H100 Announced
Nvidia announced the Hopper-architecture H100 data-center GPU in March 2022.
2022SK Hynix
Kwak Noh-jung becomes CEO
Kwak Noh-jung became CEO of SK Hynix in 2022. Kwak joined Hyundai Electronics in 1994 and became CEO in March 2022.
2023NVIDIA
Grace CPU Enters Data Center Roadmap
NVIDIA introduced its first data-center CPU, Grace, for large-scale AI and high-performance computing. The milestone expanded the platform from GPUs and networking into CPU-GPU system design.
2023SK Hynix
HBM3 Mass Production for NVIDIA
SK Hynix becomes the first company to mass-produce HBM3 high-bandwidth memory, securing NVIDIA as a primary customer for AI accelerator applications.
2024NVIDIA
Blackwell Architecture Launched
NVIDIA launched Blackwell as a data-center-scale architecture combining GPUs, CPUs, DPUs, interconnects, switch chips, systems, and networking adapters. The architecture became central to FY2026 Data Center demand.
2024SK Hynix
FY2024 Memory-Cycle Recovery
SK hynix reported ~$47B (KRW 66.19T) of FY2024 revenue as HBM demand and DRAM price recovery returned it to a ~$14.1B (KRW 19.79T) net profit after the 2023 loss.
2026NVIDIA
$215.9B FY2026 Revenue
NVIDIA reported $215.9 billion of FY2026 revenue, $193.7 billion of Data Center revenue, and $120.1 billion of net income. The result showed how far AI infrastructure had moved the company beyond its original PC graphics market.
2026SK Hynix
SK hynix posts record FY2025 and Q1 2026 AI-memory results
SK hynix reported FY2025 revenue of ~$69B (KRW 97.1467T) and followed with Q1 2026 revenue of ~$37.3B (KRW 52.5763T) as AI memory demand accelerated.
2026SK Hynix
Nasdaq ADR listing and record Q2
SK hynix listed ADRs on Nasdaq on July 10, 2026, then reported record Q2 revenue of ~$56.3B (KRW 79.32T) and a 76% operating margin.
Acquisitions
NVIDIA
- Groq (technology license and team)2025Undisclosed
- SchedMD2025Undisclosed
- Run:ai2024$700M
- Excelero2022Undisclosed
- Mellanox Technologies2020$6.9B
- Cumulus Networks2020Undisclosed
SK Hynix
- Key Foundry2022Undisclosed
- Intel NAND and Solidigm2020$9B
- LG Semiconductor1999Undisclosed
Questions about NVIDIA vs SK Hynix
Who is the CEO of NVIDIA Corporation and SK Hynix Inc.?
NVIDIA Corporation is led by Jensen Huang and SK Hynix Inc. is led by Kwak Noh-jung. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was NVIDIA Corporation founded vs SK Hynix Inc.?
SK Hynix Inc. was founded in 1983 — 10 years before NVIDIA Corporation, which was founded in 1993. SK Hynix Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger NVIDIA Corporation.
How many employees does NVIDIA Corporation have compared to SK Hynix Inc.?
NVIDIA Corporation employs approximately 42,000 people, while SK Hynix Inc. employs approximately 46,863. SK Hynix Inc. has the larger workforce at 46,863 employees, compared to NVIDIA Corporation's 42,000. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are NVIDIA Corporation and SK Hynix Inc. headquartered?
NVIDIA Corporation is headquartered in United States and SK Hynix Inc. is headquartered in South Korea. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded NVIDIA Corporation and SK Hynix Inc.?
NVIDIA Corporation was founded by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, Curtis Priem. SK Hynix Inc. was founded by Chung Ju-yung.
Which company has a longer operating history — NVIDIA Corporation or SK Hynix Inc.?
SK Hynix Inc. has been operating for approximately 43 years, making it the more established of the two companies. NVIDIA Corporation has been in operation for around 33 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the NVIDIA vs SK Hynix overview