THE NVIDIA WAY book announcement

My book will be released on December 10, 2024. Pre-order now.

I'm thrilled to announce that my book, THE NVIDIA WAY, will be released on December 10 and is available for pre-order.

-The book is the first comprehensive, detailed business history of Nvidia, drawn from over 100 interviews-including Jensen Huang and his two co-founders, the two original VC investors, early former employees, current senior executives, and technology industry CEOs.

-THE NVIDIA WAY offers enduring life success lessons from Nvidia's history, distinct work culture, and Jensen's unorthodox and effective management style.

-Jensen is the King of Founder Mode. The book includes more than two dozen Jensen-isms: his management principles, mantras and catchphrases. It also covers how Nvidia survived multiple near-death experiences to become the best-performing stock in U.S. history and the most important technology company in the world, worth $3 trillion.

As a new author, pre-orders are enormously important for exposure and securing bookshelf space. If you have EVER found my work useful, this is your opportunity to support deeply researched, serious, and substantive journalism.

Please amplify this post, tell your friends, and pre-order THE NVIDIA WAY at your favorite bookstore. The first print run could easily sell out before the holidays, so order early.

Here's what the best, critically acclaimed business authors say about THE NVIDIA WAY:

"THE NVIDIA WAY is a riveting history of Nvidia's unexpected ascent to the top of the tech sector―and a compelling case for why cofounder Jensen Huang is one of history's great CEOs .. An essential read for understanding the rise of artificial intelligence and Nvidia’s central role in it."

―Chris Miller, New York Times best-selling author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

"A captivating history of one of the world's most important companies and what made it so great. Tae Kim deftly narrates Nvidia's incredible achievements and instructive failures, and also captures the unique philosophies, motivations, and bets of its founders, scientists, and staffers."

―Matthew Ball, best-selling author of The Metaverse: Building the Spatial Internet

Pre-order here: https://wwnorton.com/books/the-nvidia-way

Nvidia Book

I'm writing what will be the definitive history of the world's most important technology company.

I'm working on a book about Nvidia, a company I've followed closely for 30 years.

The response from early industry executives has been overwhelmingly positive so far. Everyone wants this story told.

Please reach out if you have any interesting Nvidia stories or suggestions for topics I should cover. I'll share updates on this project through this newsletter.

Email: tae.kim@barrons dot com Twitter/X or Threads: @firstadopter

Electronic Arts Has a Game Maker With the Midas Touch

Vince Zampella may be the most successful game maker in history.

“Videogames have become the world’s most lucrative global entertainment medium, but the industry’s top players are unknown compared with film directors and TV show runners.”

“Take Vince Zampella, who is responsible for the creation of three multibillion-dollar franchises, including the original Call of Duty and Modern Warfare, both of which are among the most successful games in history. Zampella also made Apex Legends as the head of Respawn, his independent studio that Electronic Arts (ticker: EA) wisely acquired in 2017. Earlier this year, EA announced that Apex had surpassed $2 billion in bookings.”

“I’m willing to bet that most investors and fund managers don’t know who Zampella is, either. They should.”

“What’s unique about Vince is everything he touches turns to gold,” says Geoff Keighley, creator of The Game Awards, the Oscars of the videogame world. “No matter the genre or platform, he’s able to rally the team to make an amazing game. He pretty much has a perfect record.”

“The good news for EA shareholders is that the company has started to hand over more of its game properties to Zampella.”

“In May, this column recommended EA as a play on the multiyear videogame-console cycle. I also noted that it was one of the few big independent game companies remaining and could attract takeover attention. Both of those ideas remain in play.”

“Microsoft is largely trying to buy Activision for its Call of Duty brand, where much of the company’s value lies. But it won’t be getting Zampella, who is busy creating the next Call of Duty–type hit for EA.”

“Microsoft might be buying the wrong company.”

Read the Full Piece - https://www.barrons.com/articles/ea-best-videogame-stock-51662754599

My Top Tech Ideas Beat the Market in 2019. Here Are My Picks For 2020

Favorite tech stock ideas (themes) for 2020 - Datadog (Kubernetes), Activision Blizzard (new gaming consoles), Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. (5G) and Smartsheet (cloud software)

If you like this free tech investing email newsletter, subscribe HERE. Follow me on Twitter.

New technology product cycles often lead to positive earnings surprises.

The key is being able to foresee the new winners and losers before others. 

What is the differentiator? Domain knowledge and expertise built over time. The table stakes are reading all the industry blogs, websites, internet message boards and most importantly using the products and services themselves. Simply, the early (first) adopters who know more history, context and historic trends are more likely to figure it out first.

I am certain enthusiasts who were passionate about technology and had the proper historic context could have figured out 2016’s Nvidia step-function up Pascal product cycle by reading the right websites before the rest of Wall Street. The potential upgrade cycle from the Pascal lineup’s amazing price-to-performance ratio wasn’t rocket science. It led to triple-digit stock returns in 2016.

📉tae kim @firstadopter

On Jan.15 last year I tweeted some ideas to compete with 2016 Barron’s Roundtable picks (came out then). Final perf. tally: +81%, +62% alpha

Or AMD’s Zen 1 chip product cycle that drove its stock to become the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2018. All the previews and reviews from industry blogs signaled it was a game-changer product lineup for the chip maker.

📉tae kim @firstadopter

My big 2018 stock idea was $AMD Its shares have risen 64% since the Jan. 5 column:

cnbc.comAMD is big winner from chip flaw fiasco as more than $11 billion in Intel stock value is wiped outCompanies will likely diversify their chip security architecture risk by buying more AMD server chips.

Same with AMD’s Zen 2 7-nanometer and Rome server chip product cycle that led its stock to again lead the S&P 500 in performance this year.

📉tae kim @firstadopter

$AMD is once again on my 2019 top tech stock ideas list (tho I expect some rough sledding in its next 2 quarters on weak GPU/chip sector downturn - AMD is more a big 2H-2019 server chip story), along with $GOOGL $PYPL $GRUB Read why here:

barrons.comHow to Play Tech’s Top 3 Themes for 2019Tech stocks have struggled in recent months, but the big drivers haven’t changed. Here are stocks benefiting from the multi-year disruptive trends.

Fundamental analysis and domain knowledge work. Figure out the big product cycles and which companies are kicking ass, taking market share.

So how is this in practice? My top four 2019 tech ideas have outperformed the market this year, led by AMD’s triple-digit return. 

📉tae kim @firstadopter

Looking back at the past year: Final tally for my top 2019 tech stock ideas from Dec. 14, 2018 -> $AMD +122%, $GOOGL +29%, $PYPL +27%, $GRUB -38%. Avg. +35%. In same time period: S&P 500 (including dividends) +26%, Nasdaq +30% (1/2)

barrons.comWe Chose AMD, Alphabet, and Other Tech Stocks to Win 2019. Here’s How Our Picks Did.From chip wars to trade wars, from antitrust to Kubernetes, the technology industry saw many twists and turns in 2019. Here’s how stock picks AMD, Alphabet, PayPal, and Grubhub performed.

For 2020, my top ideas are riding the themes of cloud software, Kubernetes, a new videogame console cycle and China 5G. The 4 picks are: 

1. Smartsheet (SMAR) - a leader in cloud workforce collaboration software. Its product enables employees to automate business processes and workflows with no programming skills.

2. Datadog (DDOG) - a leader in cloud workload monitoring software. It should benefit from the secular rise of Kubernetes.

3. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) could be the best way to play the 2020 videogame console cycle. Its new Call of Duty graphics engine in this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare should enable a strong multi-year runway for the franchise and publisher, along with the upcoming Diablo and Overwatch sequels.

4. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) - unquestioned leader in chip manufacturing technology. It will benefit from strong demand for its bleeding edge processes. The chip manufacturer’s big customers are Apple, AMD and Huawei (China 5G).

Read my full Tech Trader column for all the details HERE.

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Comments? What should I be covering? Let me know by replying to this email.

Tae Kim
Tech Reporter, Barron’s

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I write about technology, the stock market and video games. You can also check out my bio and archive of stories on taekim.com. Follow me on Twitter.

Activision Blizzard Is Back In the Game

World of Warcraft Classic and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare brighten the game maker's upside potential

If you like this free tech investing email newsletter, subscribe HERE. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

Back in 2003, the first Call of Duty was a blockbuster success with its cinematic campaign and more realistic game-play. Previously, the game’s developers made the popular Medal of Honor games for EA before eventually joining Activision under the Infinity Ward studio banner.

The games they made were simply better than anything on the market at the time.

Infinity Ward’s apex was 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, in my opinion the most influential modern shooter in gaming history.

But due to differences with Activision management over compensation and creative direction, most of the core Infinity Ward team resigned and left to form Respawn. (Respawn then made the Titanfall games and was eventually acquired by EA and now makes Apex Legends. Yes, it is all a bit confusing.) As a result, Infinity Ward was gutted and lost most of its talent.

Over the last decade, the annual Call of Duty releases haven’t advanced much technically. Yes, there were different environments and stories, but the core gameplay and graphics always seemed a bit dated, rehashed, frankly more and more cartoony.

So I wasn’t expecting much last weekend, when I booted up the pre-release alpha demo of the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (slated for an October release.)

Wow. Was I pleasantly stunned. I enjoyed it immensely. This year’s game is gritty and has a improved, more deliberate gameplay design - including more realistic physics. It was a dramatic step-function technology upgrade, versus previous Call of Duty titles.

But I was also perplexed. The previous two Infinity Ward games were mediocre and sales disappointments. The studio was widely regarded as second-tier among Activision’s Call of Duty development studios.

How could they put out such a technically improved game with a revamped graphics engine? What happened?

Over the last year, I had heard rumors that a number of senior developers who worked on the original 2007 Modern Warfare game and left to join Respawn, had returned to re-join Activision’s Infinity Ward in recent years.

So I contacted Activision and asked was this true? Was this why this year’s game was so improved?

Yes and yes.

Activision sent me the names of several senior developers and their bios - including the Studio Art Director, Multiplayer Design Director, Game Designer and Animation Director. I checked and confirmed the information on their LinkedIn profiles. It all made sense.

Now, I’m more excited about this game than any Call of Duty release since Modern Warfare 2 a decade ago. And that is probably good news for the Activision Blizzard shares.

Oh. The company’s other big 2019 release, World of Warcraft Classic, which is a re-issue of a 15 year-old game, melted down the internet this week with record-breaking viewership on Twitch. 6.1 million unique viewers in 24 hours. Like Coca-Cola Classic, nostalgia can be extremely profitable.

Read all about it in my full Tech Trader column HERE.

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Comments? What should I be covering? Let me know by replying to this email.

Tae Kim
Tech Reporter, Barron’s

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If you like this free tech investing email newsletter, subscribe HERE.

I write about technology, the stock market and video games. You can also check out my bio and archive of stories on taekim.com. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram.