On October 8, 2026, President Donald Trump awarded Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang the National Medal of Science at a technology summit in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes Huang for transforming the graphics processing unit from a gaming component into a foundation for general-purpose computing and artificial intelligence.
The citation specifically highlights Huang's contribution to massively parallel computation, which has enabled significant breakthroughs in scientific research. This ceremony marked the first time President Trump presented these medals during his second term.
Other industry leaders were also honored at the event. Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. The summit focused on investments in scientific computing, with Nvidia announcing the provision of compute credits to support research workloads.
Huang's recent recognition includes the 2026 IEEE Medal of Honor and the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, which he shared with Nvidia chief scientist Bill Dally. The National Medal of Science has been awarded by the US government since 1963.
