Jensen Huang

From 2006 Huang kept Nvidia investing in CUDA, software that let its graphics chips run general scientific computing, for years before it earned much and while investors questioned the cost. When deep learning took off, researchers were already using CUDA, which is a large part of why Nvidia came to dominate AI chips. It is the best-documented case on this list of a long, expensive bet paying off spectacularly; he is still chief executive.