He Bought Nvidia Stock in 1993. Now It's the Backbone of His $8.8 Billion Net Worth.

What if you invested successful Nvidia 30 years ago, earlier it went public, and held on?

Venture capitalist Mark Stevens is presently 1 of Nvidia's top individual shareholders, 2nd only to CEO Jensen Huang. He invested successful nan AI chipmaker successful 1993 arsenic a caller partner astatine Sequoia Capital. Stevens has been connected Nvidia's committee for astir of nan company's history, serving from 1993 to 2006, and past again from 2008 to nan present. Nvidia went nationalist successful 1999.

Related: Is It Too Late to Buy Nvidia? Former Morgan Stanley Strategist Says 'Buy High, Sell Higher.'

"There's astatine slightest 3 times I tin deliberation of wherever we almost mislaid nan company," Stevens told Bloomberg. "Jensen has his celebrated saying of, 'We're 30 days distant from going retired of business,' which is almost laughable today, but successful nan '90s it was nan reality."

No 1 anticipated Nvidia going from a $8 cardinal aliases $9 cardinal Series A to a $3 trillion market cap today, Stevens said.

According to a Friday Bloomberg report, nan complete 4 cardinal Nvidia shares Stevens owns are now worthy astir $4.7 cardinal and comprise complete half of his $8.8 cardinal fortune. The remainder of his nett worthy comes from his 6% ownership liking successful nan Golden State Warriors and different investments made passim his task superior career.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Turned Down a Merger Offer successful nan Company's Early Days, According to Insiders. Here's Why.

Though nan AI roar has propelled Nvidia banal to caller heights, Stevens says that it wasn't easy to clasp connected successful nan early days. The spot marketplace was crowded pinch competitors, and it was costly to support nan champion Silicon Valley talent.

Mark Stevens looking done a 360-degree display. Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Nvidia presently leads nan AI spot market, pinch tech leaders for illustration Microsoft and Google believed to beryllium among its biggest customers. Those clients could 1 time beryllium Nvidia's competitors, joining different chipmakers for illustration Intel and AMD.

Huang said successful June that Nvidia's strategy successful consequence to rising title was to make AI chips pinch nan "lowest full costs of ownership." Tens of thousands of Nvidia's chips are nan brains of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Huang has nan largest individual liking successful nan company, pinch 3.8% aliases complete 934 cardinal shares. He cashed in connected $169 cardinal worthy of shares successful June. Other Nvidia executives and board person sold shares worthy much than $700 cardinal since nan commencement of nan year.

Nvidia has seen complete 3,000% banal maturation successful nan past 5 years, which has made early investors wealthy. Some semipermanent labor are reportedly successful "semi-retirement" based connected banal grants alone.

Related: Elon Musk Praises Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's Leadership Style: 'Absolutely nan Right Attitude'