Nvidia chief calls Elon Musk an ‘extraordinary engineer’, says Optimus robot will be next big thing

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has heaped praise on Tesla chief Elon Musk, calling him an “extraordinary engineer” and highlighting the companies’ growing business ties.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Huang said Tesla and xAI are among Nvidia’s biggest customers. “We do a lot of business with Tesla and xAI. Elon is an extraordinary engineer. We're going to build many more computers together. His self-driving car, his Optimus robot, every single one of them world class and revolutionary; the Optimus opportunity is just around the corner,” he said.



Huang went on to describe the potential of humanoid robots as a transformative force in technology. “It's very likely that humanoid robots are going to be robots we can deploy into the world relatively easily, and this is the first robot that has a chance to achieve the high volume and … scale to advance technology. I think this is likely the next multi-trillion-dollar industry,” he said.

Musk recently told CNBC that Tesla and xAI will continue buying chips from Nvidia, AMD and potentially other chipmakers. Last year, he asked Nvidia to prioritise GPU shipments to xAI over Tesla, highlighting the rapid growth of his AI ventures.

Despite recent geopolitical challenges, including US restrictions on chip exports to China, Nvidia has continued to post strong financial results. For the most recent quarter, it reported revenue of $44.1 billion, up 69% year-on-year, with net income rising 26% to $18.78 billion. While revenue beat Wall Street expectations, profit came in slightly below forecasts.

The company said US export curbs would cost it $4.5 billion in lost sales to China, but it still expects revenue to grow 50% in the current quarter to $45 billion, driven by rising demand for its latest AI chips.