Jensen Huang was once Denny’s “best dishwasher.”

“I planned my work. I was organized. I was mise en place,” Huang said during a March 2024 interview with Stanford Graduate School of Business. “I washed the living daylights out of those dishes.”

Now he’s beating the living daylights out of the competition as president and CEO of Nvidia, the world’s premiere advanced chip manufacturer. He’s now worth $151 billion, and the company he cofounded has a $4.3 trillion market cap. Huang on Tuesday was also ranked No. 1 on Fortune‘s list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business.

But Huang attributes his wild success in business to the work ethic he picked up during his time with Denny’s as a dishwasher, before he was “promoted” to busboy.

“I never left the station empty-handed. I never came back empty-handed. I was very efficient,” Huang said. “Anyways, eventually I became a CEO. I’m still working on being a good CEO.”

And his alma mater of sorts, Denny’s, has honored Huang the best way they know how: by adding a menu item in honor of his chipmaking behemoth.

Denny’s debuted the aptly named Nvidia Breakfast Bytes earlier this year to pay tribute to Huang’s “remarkable journey from Denny’s dishwasher and server to a tech titan.” The breakfast includes four sausage links that customers can wrap in Denny’s buttermilk silver dollar pancakes and dip in maple syrup—which is Huang’s favorite way to eat the dish, according to Denny’s.

“Jensen’s journey from Denny’s kitchen and dining room to the pinnacle of the tech world is a testament to the power of dreams and determination,” Denny’s CEO Kelli Valade said in a statement. “We’re deeply honored that America’s Diner played a role in NVIDIA’s origin story as a global AI powerhouse. 

How Huang cofounded Nvidia

Huang was born in Taiwan in 1963, moved to Thailand at age 5, and moved to Washington State in the U.S. when he was 9. He went to high school outside of Portland, Ore., where he started working for Denny’s at age 15, according to an Nvidia blog post. Huang then earned his electrical engineering degree from Oregon State University, then went on to get his master’s in the same subject from Stanford University in 1992. 

Not only did Huang land his first job at Denny’s—but it’s also the place where he and two of his friends cooked up the idea that would make him a billionaire. In 1993, Huang, along with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem (who both worked at Sun Microsystems), met at what was one of Denny’s “most popular” locations in Northern California to discuss “creating a chip that would enable realistic 3D graphics on personal computers,” according to the Nvidia blog post. 

“Chris and Curtis said one day they’d like to leave [Sun Microsystems], and they’d like me to go figure out what they’re going to leave for,” Huang said. “They insisted I figure out with them how to build a company.” But with little runway on how to build a business, Huang said he resolved to visit a bookstore to find books on starting a business and found one titled How to Write a Business Plan by Gordon Bell. But the issue was the book was 450 pages long.

“Well, I never got through it. And not even close,” Huang said. “I flipped through a few pages and I go, ‘You know what, by the time I’m done reading this thing, I’ll be out of business.” So with that, Huang took to a Denny’s booth with his two friends to brainstorm a business.

At the time, Huang was working as an engineer with LSI Logic, a company in Santa Clara, Calif., that sold semiconductors and software. Avago Technologies acquired LSI Logic for $6.6 billion in 2014. But Huang kind of skips over that part when he’s telling his career story. 

“My first job before CEO was a dishwasher,” Huang said in the Stanford interview. “And I did that very well.”

While at Denny’s that fateful night, Huang, Malachowsky, and Priem “polished off a Lumberjack Slam, Moons Over My Hammy, and a Super Bird sandwich—washed down with plenty of coffee,” according to Nvidia, the perfect fuel for masterminding a new technology. Now there’s a booth dedicated to Huang at an East San Jose Denny’s location.

“The PC revolution was just getting going,” Huang said in the Stanford interview. “We thought, why don’t we build a company that solves problems that a normal computer that is powered by general purpose computing can’t. That became the company’s mission.” Some of the industries “opened up,” Huang said, as a result of Nvidia’s technology, include computational drug design, weather simulation, materials design, robotics, self-driving cars—and the big one: artificial intelligence.

Nvidia’s technology “enabled a whole new way of developing software where the computer wrote the software itself—artificial intelligence as we know it today,” Huang said. “That was the journey.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s leadership advice

While Nvidia has undoubtedly been developing the technology fueling the AI revolution, it had done so relatively quietly until just about a month ago. But in February 2024, its 46% stock surge pushed it past Amazon, adding about $560 billion in market value. Then Nvidia beat out Alphabet to become the third most valuable U.S. company. But there are some skeptics who think Nvidia may be overvalued. Apollo Global Management said that Nvidia’s inflated earnings are creating an AI bubble even “bigger than the 1990s tech bubble.”

But even as successful as Nvidia becomes, Huang consistently reflects on his humble beginnings. He tries to maintain a very flat structure at his company and lends a helping hand where he can. He says (counter to conventional business wisdom) that a CEO should have the most direct reports; he has 50. 

“No task is beneath me,” he said. “I used to be a dishwasher. I used to clean toilets. I cleaned a lot of toilets. I’ve cleaned more toilets than all of you combined. And some of them you just can’t unsee.”

A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on March 12, 2024.

More on Jensen Huang:

• Jensen Huang named No. 1 on Fortune‘s Most Powerful People in Business list
• Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says AI agents are ‘a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity’ and ‘the age of AI Agentics is here’
• Jensen Huang says investors got it wrong over DeepSeek stock selloff that wiped $600B from Nvidia

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Younger generations are looking to the Midwest for homeownership because of the region’s significantly lower housing costs compared to major coastal cities. Many Midwest metros have median home prices well below the national average, while also offering a lower cost of living. As a result, some Midwest cities have higher rates of young homeowners.

Younger generations are typically associated with wanting to live a big-city lifestyle, but the high cost of housing on the coasts is driving Gen Z to consider other options. 

The Midwest is becoming a more attractive place to plant roots, considering housing costs there can be at least 30% cheaper than living in major coastal metros like New York City or Los Angeles. 

In fact, seven out of the 10 most accessible metros for young homeowners are in the Midwest, according to a ConsumerAffairs’ analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) data published July 29. 

The Midwest cities with the highest rates of homeownership under age 35 include: 

• Omaha, Nebraska (18.2%)
• Grand Rapids, Michigan (21.1%)
• Des Moines, Iowa (19.8%)
• Wichita, Kansas (18.4%)
• Cincinnati, Ohio (17%)
• Minneapolis, Minnesota (16.5%)
• Akron, Ohio (14.2%)

Minneapolis is also considered as one of the most affordable places to live, according to Zillow, along with other Midwest cities like St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. 

All of these are cities where half or more of the homes for sale are considered affordable, according to Zillow, meaning housing consumes less than 30% of a typical household’s budget. 

Median home prices in many Midwest cities hover around $200,000 to $275,000, while the national median has crossed $400,000, Danielle Andrews, a realtor with Realty One Group Next Generation, told Fortune. That price gap can cut monthly housing costs by 30% to 50%, even before factoring in lower property taxes and insurance, she added. 

Why Gen Z is moving

During the pandemic, many professionals moved to locations with more appealing weather and amenities while working from home. But now that many workers have been forced back to the office and housing costs have continued to rise, those cities don’t always make financial sense for homeowners anymore.   

Andrews said she’s worked with several Gen Z buyers—especially remote workers and young professionals—who are leaving higher-cost areas like Florida for more affordable housing.

“For many, it’s not just about cheaper homes, but about being able to build wealth earlier without drowning in overhead,” Andrews said. She also cited a StorageCafe statistic showing Gen Z and millennials made up nearly 30% of all interstate movers, with states like Indiana and Wisconsin seeing some of the biggest gains. 

A Realtor.com analysis published Tuesday also shows suburban zip codes in the Midwest are heating up in 2025, meaning they’re getting attention through a mix of lifestyle appeal, relative affordability, and strong ties to nearby economic hubs.

“The Northeast and Midwest dominate, driven by buyers from high-cost metros looking for relief without sacrificing access to jobs and amenities,” Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said in a statement. “Many of these neighborhoods also offer newer homes than the surrounding areas, highlighting the critical role of new and infill construction in meeting today’s buyer demand—even in a tough market.”

In its analysis of interest in areas that offer more space, more access to jobs, and better value, Realtor.com found that three of the 10 hottest zip codes are in the Midwest cities of Ballwin, Mo.; Strongsville, Ohio; and Bexley, Ohio. While these three cities have higher prices than their respective larger metro areas, their price points remain moderate on a national scale.  

Although home prices in the Midwest are rising, the region continues to be the most affordable homebuying region in the country, according to Redfin. Take Detroit, which has the lowest median sales price of any major metro at $180,000, Redfin data shows, or Cleveland at about $217,000. Both of these cities’ median home prices are roughly half of the overall U.S. figure. 

“Importantly, the cost of living [in the Midwest], especially for essentials like groceries, gas, and health care, is better aligned with local wages, allowing Gen Z buyers to not just get by—but actually get ahead,” Andrews said. “The Midwest is no longer just affordable: It’s aspirational for a generation redefining success.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Housing affordability in the U.S. remains at crisis levels due to a combination of stubbornly high mortgage rates and home prices. Even if mortgage rates dropped substantially, the core problem is persistently high prices, particularly in major metro areas. Affordable inventory remains tight as current homeowners hold onto low-rate mortgages.

There are several factors affecting housing affordability in the U.S.—and stubbornly high mortgage rates are something felt across the country. 

During the pandemic, buyers enjoyed sub-3% mortgage rates, which ushered in a wave of first-time homeowners. But by late 2023, mortgage rates had peaked at 8%, and today still remain near 6.5% to 7%. That—in combination with home prices that are more than 50% higher than 2020—has locked out new home buyers from entering the market and current homeowners from selling. 

Zillow reported this week it would take mortgage rates dropping to about 4.43% to make an average home affordable for a typical buyer. But Zillow economic analyst Anushna Prakash said this was “unrealistic” considering the massive dip required to get there. 

But even if mortgage rates dropped to 0%, Prakash said, an average home would remain unaffordable in some major metro areas, according to Zillow. 

Those include: 

• New York
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• San Francisco
• San Diego
• San Jose

That’s because high home prices “are the bigger hurdle,” Michelle Griffith, a luxury real-estate broker with Douglas Elliman based in New York City, told Fortune.

“The reality is that buying into the market especially in Manhattan or prime Brooklyn still requires a significant amount of cash upfront,” Griffith said. “Inventory is tight and competition is high, so the cost of the property itself is what keeps most buyers on the sidelines.”

Between May 2020 and May 2025, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is widely used to measure U.S. residential real estate prices, jumped more than 51%. 

While mortgage rates certainly make monthly payments more expensive, Griffith said, affordability “is more about the overall price tag.” 

“Buyers care about rates, of course, but what really matters is having enough for the down payment and closing costs,” she added. “A small shift in rates doesn’t suddenly make that million-dollar apartment feel attainable.”

Another issue contributing to the housing crisis is a lack of lower-priced inventory. Salim Chraibi, founder and CEO of homebuilding company Bluenest Development, told Fortune he sees pre-approved and motivated buyers in Miami, but there just aren’t enough homes available in their price range. Chraibi’s company focuses on building homes for lower- and middle-income families.

“For sellers, many are holding onto homes because they don’t want to lose the lower interest rates they locked in years ago, which keeps inventory tight and the cycle going,” he said. “The biggest issue is inventory of the types of homes that are considered affordable for middle-income families.”

Dealing with sticker shock

When it comes to the U.S. market, tipping one scale doesn’t necessarily fix the housing affordability problem.

Even buyers who pay in all cash have to “contend with sticker shock,” Alexander Kalla, a realtor with Keller Williams Bay Area Estates in California, told Fortune. 

The median home price in San Jose has hovered consistently above $1.6 million, he said, which significantly strains most households before mortgage financing costs are even considered. So even if mortgage rates dropped to 0%, a median-priced home in San Francisco, San Jose, or anywhere else in the Bay Area would still require an extremely high down payment and monthly payments, he explained. 

While “many buyers here are extremely rate-sensitive, running numbers at every shift in the market,” Kalla said, “the main barrier is that house prices have massively outpaced local incomes since before rates rose.”

Rents and home prices have been rising faster than incomes across most regions of the U.S., according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Americans now need to make more than six figures to afford a median-priced home, according to Realtor.com, but the average U.S. salary is only slightly more than half of that.

“Until we tackle prices, supply, and local wage growth, affordability will remain a challenge, no matter what happens with rates,” Kalla said. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Despite a widespread return-to-office push, loneliness among workers remains high. KPMG survey results published Tuesday found that 81% of employees value friendships at work as “critically important,” and a majority would even prefer to earn less to work with friends than earn more without them.

While a massive return-to-office push promised to make collaboration and relationship building easier and more accessible, most workers still feel lonely at work. That’s largely due to technology use and a lack of support for employees, research shows.

Workers crave companionship so much, in fact, survey results published Tuesday from audit, tax, and advisory firm KPMG show 57% would choose a role with a salary 10% below market value to work with friends over a job with a salary 10% over market without close friendships.

This “friendship premium” effectively values workplace relationships at 20% of someone’s salary, according to KPMG.

Meanwhile, 45% of people reported feelings of loneliness in the workplace, up nearly double from KPMG’s Friends at Work report from last year. And 81% of workers consider having workplace relationships as “critically important.”

This year, KPMG surveyed 1,019 full-time employees about the relative importance of salary, friends at work, work-life balance, learning opportunities, company culture, and how technology shapes employee experiences.

KPMG’s decision to explore workplace friendships was driven by the growing recognition that human connection is essential to business success, Sandy Torchia, KPMG U.S. vice chair of talent and culture, told Fortune.

“Our [2024] survey revealed that workplace friendships are an undervalued solution for addressing issues such as loneliness, burnout and disengagement—challenges increasingly evident in today’s workforce,” she said. “Our [2025] survey indicates that these issues not only persist but are becoming even more prevalent.”

The value of friendships at work

Kelsey Szamet, a workplace attorney with Encino, Calif.-based Kingsley Szamet Employment Lawyers, told Fortune it’s no wonder some employees would choose lower pay to work with friends.

Based on her work with clients, “a warm organizational culture will often rank higher for employees compared to simple monetary pay,” Szamet said. “Working in an atmosphere of trust and friendship can lead to greater commitment and staying longer with one company even if salaries are not at the stratospheric levels for one’s expertise.”

Erin Eatough, cofounder and chief science officer at advisory firm Fractional Insights, told Fortune this trend reflects a larger redefinition of value at work.

“People are no longer just optimizing for income—they’re optimizing for meaning, growth, and connection,” said Eatough, who uses psychological science while consulting Fortune 500 leaders. She earned her Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of South Florida. 

“We see this in our diagnostics,” she continued. “Workers are increasingly seeking environments where they feel safe, connected, and respected. Friendship is often the most human expression of a culture that has gotten it right.”

A recent Fractional Insights survey also showed more than 50% of employees feel they have to “constantly look out for themselves at work.”

“That kind of chronic self-protection signals a breakdown of trust and belonging and it erodes motivation and innovation over time,” Eatough added. “Workplace friendships can act as a buffer against the loneliness epidemic.”

Meanwhile, workplace friendships often go beyond superficial connections. Friends can serve as support systems at important times like when an employee faces discrimination, harassment, or retaliation Szamet said. 

Generational breakdown and AI friendships

KPMG’s survey results found Gen Z values workplace friendships the most out of all groups. Two-thirds of Gen Z would choose a role with the friendship premium, followed by 58% for baby boomers, 57% of millennials, and 55% of Gen Xers.

While friendships are valuable across all generations, younger workers rely more heavily on work friends to navigate mental health and burnout, Torchia said. They’re also more likely to view their work friends as “social connectors” and “confidants,” she added. 

AI has also become a source of companionship—for better or for worse—for some workers. While 99% of workers reported they’re interested in an AI chatbot that could become a friend or trusted work companion, according to KPMG, 49% said the technology creates false connections and replaces deep conversations with superficial interactions. Torchia calls this the “great AI paradox.”

AI “can serve as a tool to help alleviate loneliness while also amplifying our hunger for authentic relationships,” she said. “The organizations winning are those leveraging emerging technology like AI to create more meaningful human interactions, not fewer.”

Eatough said the more we automate, the more precious and powerful human connections become.

“If we’re not careful, we risk designing sterile, extractive workplaces in pursuit of efficiency,” she said. But placing humans at the forefront of performance management, communication, and rewards can “create environments where both AI and authentic connection thrive side by side.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high: hovering near 7%, well above the sub-3% rates during the pandemic. That makes homeownership increasingly unaffordable for many Americans, as home prices have risen over 50% since 2020.

During the pandemic, home buyers got accustomed to sub-3% mortgage rates, which made purchasing a house feel more achievable. But in the past couple of years, buyers have had no such luck.

In late 2023, mortgage rates peaked at 8%. While they’ve let up some, today’s 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.75%, according to Mortgage News Daily. Economists and real-estate groups have warned they don’t see that figure budging much in the near future. And to make matters worse, some have said the mortgage rate it would take to make homes feel affordable again isn’t achievable. 

On Tuesday, Zillow economic analyst Anushna Prakash reported mortgage rates would need to drop to 4.43% for a typical home to be affordable to an average buyer. But “that kind of a rate decline is currently unrealistic,” Prakash wrote. Meanwhile, not even a 0% interest rate would make a typical home affordable in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, San Diego, or San Jose, she added. 

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices also said in an early July report that mortgage rates are one of the main deterrents for both home buyers and sellers.

“Many homeowners are reluctant [to] put their homes on the market and give up the low mortgage rates they already have,” according to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. “To them, high price gains won’t mitigate their ability to pay more for another home at significantly higher interest rates.”

This issue is also referred to as golden handcuffs—or the locked-in mortgage rate effect. The idea is that current homeowners have no incentive to put their homes on the market, even if they want to move, because they’d forgo a much lower mortgage rate they had locked in years ago. 

This causes a litany of other problems in the housing market, namely inventory.

The number of unsold existing homes for sale rose 9% month-over-month in April, according to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, to 1.45 million; that’s equal to 4.4 months’ supply on hand at the current sales pace and the highest level in five years. That’s shown itself in more sellers delisting their properties after sitting on the market for longer than expected.

“Homes are sitting on the market nearly three weeks longer than last year,” Realtor.com Senior Economist Jake Krimmel recently told Fortune. “That’s a sign of sellers still anchored to pandemic-era prices even though the market is telling them otherwise.” 

That doesn’t mean there’s an influx of housing in the U.S.; in fact, we’re still short millions of units. It just means there aren’t enough people who can actually afford to buy a home.

The factors influencing housing affordability

Although inventory levels are increasing, home prices and mortgage rates continue to be a roadblock for potential home buyers. Mortgage rates have remained “stubbornly high,” Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices said, deterring new buyers from the market.

According to a Realtor.com report published Thursday, the typical home spent 58 days on the market in July, which is 7 days longer than the same time last year. 

Mortgage rates are certainly a factor among buyers when deciding to make an offer, and home prices are also up more than 50% since the onset of the pandemic, according to the U.S. Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

All the while, wages haven’t grown at the same pace as home appreciation, making buying a house feel even more unaffordable. And if nothing changes like mortgage rates, inventory, or wage growth, it’s likely the housing affordability crisis in the U.S. will persist, Alexandra Gupta, a real-estate broker with The Corcoran Group, told Fortune.

“Some first-time buyers are turning to long-term renting or even co-living models because the idea of owning a home has become so out of reach. Others are relying more on family support to get into the market,” Gupta said. “We’re seeing a reshaping of the housing ladder.”

The small glimmer of hope, though, is home price growth appears to be slowing, according to the Case-Shiller indices.

“With affordability still stretched and inventory constrained, national home prices are holding steady, but barely,” Nicholas Godec, head of fixed-income tradables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• The $645 million, 390-foot “Breakthrough” superyacht—widely linked to billionaire Bill Gates but reportedly never used by him—is up for sale. It’s the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell superyacht and boasts luxurious amenities.

If you’re looking to cruise in style à la Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, now might be your chance. 

The $645 million, 390-foot “Breakthrough” superyacht that’s long been linked to the billionaire and philanthropist is up for sale by yacht broker Edmiston. 

Jamie Edmiston, CEO of his namesake company, said in a statement it’s “the most extraordinary yacht ever built [and] the one that will change it all.”

Neither Gates nor Edmiston responded to requests for comment from Fortune, but it’s been widely reported across business and industry-specific publications the superyacht was commissioned by Gates just a few years ago. 

Dutch shipyard Feadship spent five years building “Breakthrough,” also known as “Project 821,” and it’s large enough to accommodate 43 crew members and 30 guests across 15 cabins. Forbes Australia reported in May 2024 the yacht also features a hospital, library, elevator, movie theatre, pool, hot tubs, steam room, gym, separate owners’ deck with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two offices, and 14 slide-out balconies. 

“The big deal about Breakthrough is that it’s a modern engineering marvel, period,” Brad Hall, CEO of online yacht marketplace Yachtlify, told Fortune.

That’s because the “Breakthrough” is the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell superyacht. And that’s what makes the superyacht particularly expensive, Heigo Paartalu, CEO of YachtWay, told Fortune.

“Breakthrough—true to its name—is a genuine breakthrough and milestone in innovation,” said Paartalu, who heads up what can be compared to the Zillow for yachts. “It’s the only privately owned vessel powered by hydrogen, and building one demands extreme precision, as any hydrogen leak could be catastrophic.”

Video footage courtesy YachtWay.com.

There are very few shipyards in the world capable of building a vessel like this, Paartalu explained, and he said “it’s no surprise” Feadship pulled it off, as it’s widely considered one of the best shipyards globally.

While most yacht owners prioritize maximum interior space, “Breakthrough” was primarily designed with the climate in mind, Paartalu said. Its engine room takes up significantly more space than traditional yacht propulsion systems. 

“It’s a pretty bold, uncompromising choice,” Paartalu added. Gates is also heavily involved in clean energy projects like Breakthrough Energy, which supports early-stage companies developing technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

And because superyacht builders are backed up with production schedules, anyone looking to buy the “Breakthrough” should be expected to pay a premium, Paartalu said, rather than waiting four-to-five years for a new build.

“Time is priceless at this level,” he said. “Many buyers prefer immediate gratification over a multi-year wait.”

What’s also interesting about the sale of “Breakthrough” is Gates reportedly never even stepped foot on the yacht, even though it’s up for sale and will be shown at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.  

While every superyacht is unique, Paartalu said, in this case, the new owner will be buying more than a boat. 

“You’re buying future-forward technology and a benchmark in innovation,” he said. “Add to that a pedigree few can match. And let’s be honest: How often can someone say, ‘I bought Bill Gates’ yacht?’”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Photo courtesy YachtWay.com