Nvidia Was Born in a Denny’s Booth Where 3 Engineers Nursed Coffee for Hours — 33 Years Later Jensen Huang Exits as the Only CEO It Ever Had

Plenty of big ideas start on a napkin. The idea for Nvidia (NVDA) started over a bottomless cup of diner coffee.

Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem conceived the company at a Denny's near San Jose, California, where the diner was a convenient meeting spot in 1993. Nvidia would go on to become the first company to cross the $4 trillion and subsequently the $5 trillion market-capitalization milestones. On Thursday, Nov. 12, Nvidia's only CEO walked out the door.

Bottomless Coffee and Big Plans

Malachowsky and Priem worked at Sun Microsystems, while Huang worked at LSI Logic, so their day jobs made it hard to meet at work. The booth at Denny's became their office.

According to Fortune, Malachowsky joked that they were poor customers who would sit for hours and drink about 10 cups of coffee. The setting wasn't exactly Silicon Valley glamor. Police often worked on reports in a back room the trio was moved to, and after they noticed bullet holes in the front window, they moved their planning to Priem's townhouse, which had no air conditioning.

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Huang already knew Denny's well. "Oh, yeah, I was a dishwasher, I was a busboy, I was a waiter," he told NBC Bay Area in 2023, recalling his own early diner job.

The road from the booth wasn't smooth. Nvidia's first two chips flopped, and the company nearly went bankrupt in its early years before it went public in January 1999 at $12 per share.

The Booth Got Its Own Plaque

In September 2023, Denny's CEO Kelli Valade joined Huang to unveil a plaque at the Silicon Valley Denny's where Nvidia's founders hatched their idea for a chip that would enable realistic 3D graphics on personal computers. "The booth that launched a $1 trillion company," the plaque read when it was installed.

The diner chain's own fortunes went the other way. This year, Denny's sold to TriArtisan Capital Advisors, Yadav Enterprises, and Treville Capital Group for about $620 million. The deal closed in January 2026, making Denny's a privately held company for the first time since 1997.

At $5 trillion, the company born in that booth was worth more than 8,000 times what Denny's sold for.

A Sudden Exit at the Top

Huang once said the secret to lasting as CEO was "don't get fired, and don't get bored." He made the remark at CES in Las Vegas in January 2026, adding that he had no plans to go anywhere.

That changed fast. In a message to employees on Sunday, Nov. 8, Huang admitted that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife and apologized. The New York Times reported that Huang had a romantic relationship with Nvidia's Vice President of Health Care, while reports have emerged of an alleged affair with a second Nvidia employee. The allegations have also raised national-security questions because U.S. officials suspect another woman Huang was involved with, Alice Huang, of working for Chinese intelligence. Huang denied allegations that he had compromised national security or Nvidia secrets.

Nvidia's board decided on Wednesday night to oust Huang, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. On Thursday, Nvidia said Huang resigned as President, CEO, and a member of the board, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement, considering both internal and external candidates. Harvey C. Jones was named the company's first-ever chair of the board.

Investors had already been bracing. Nvidia's market value fell from roughly $5.78 trillion on Oct. 6 to $4.51 trillion by Nov. 6, according to YCharts. The company will report quarterly results on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Not every founder is gone. Co-founder Chris Malachowsky continues to serve as an Nvidia Fellow.

Denny's still has the booth and the plaque. Nvidia now needs someone new in the chair.

On the date of publication, Caleb Naysmith did not directly have a position in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.