Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell recently engaged in a warm public exchange reflecting on the formative years of the personal computer industry. Both the executives traded nostalgic memories with Hunag highlighting Dell’s early beginnings and long-standing manufacturing ties with Taiwan. Praising the billionaire founder, Huang looked back on how the availability of Taiwanese PC hardware and chipsets opened the doors for entrepreneurial pioneers, singling out Dell as a defining success story and calling him the “pride of Austin.” Recalling how Dell got his start in the hardware business, Huang outlined how accessible components enabled a young college student to launch what would become a global tech powerhouse.
“What started out as Compeq, IBM, because of Taiwan PC chipsets were available to all kinds of companies, including this little kid named Michael Dell. He just bought motherboards from Taiwan, assembled them into a PC, bought an operating system, licensed an operating system from Microsoft and he became a PC maker,” Huang said.
Huang emphasised Dell's deep-rooted connection to the island's tech ecosystem, adding, “Michael has a relationship in Taiwan that goes way back.
He's from Austin, Texas, pride of Austin, and he's a good guy. What a nice man. Great human being.”
Michael Dell responds with 1985 throwback
Acknowledging Huang's remarks, Michael Dell took to social media to thank the Nvidia CEO while sharing archival details of his earliest visits to Taiwan and the hardware behind his very first machines.
“Thanks very much @JensenHuang! My first trip to Taiwan was in 1985 when I was 20,” Dell wrote, pointing out that Taiwanese printed circuit board manufacturer Compeq (not computer company Compaq) was instrumental in producing early components for his nascent operation.
“Compeq (not Compaq 😂) made PCBs for us. This is the hand wired (Jay Bell, RIP) prototype of our first 286 based PC and the actual production motherboard,” Dell shared.
Dell also pointed out how the global semiconductor landscape looked different prior to the rise of foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC): “It was based on a chipset from Chips and Technologies, they were produced in Japan at that time before TSMCs rise. I explained a bunch of this history in #PlayNiceButWin.”