Nvidia's Jensen Huang on work-life balance: 'I work from the moment I wake up, 7 days a week'

When asked about his work-life balance at a recent interview, the founder and CEO of $3 trillion Nvidia, Jensen Huang, said that he begins to work from the moment he wakes up and even when he is not working, he is thinking about work, seven days a week.

"I work from the moment I wake up to the moment when I go to bed, and I work seven days a week. When I’m not working, I’m thinking about working. And when I’m working, I’m working," the 61-year-old AI chipmaker boss told Stripe CEO Patrick Collison during a chat.

He wakes up at 5 am, Huang said,  but prefers to read in bed till 6 am because he does not want to disturb his dogs. "I used to wake up at 5 (am), but these days, I wake up at 6 (am) because of my dogs... I don't mind waking anybody up, but I feel guilty when I wake the puppies up," he told Collison.

Huang -- who is one of the longest-serving tech CEOs and the 14th richest person in the world with a net worth of $105.8 billion -- also said that some people think the "best jobs are the ones that bring you happiness all the time," but he doesn't agree with it. He believes it takes suffering and struggle to "really appreciate what you've done."

"When you want to build something great, it's not easy to do and when you are doing something that's not easy to do, you're not always enjoying it," the Nvidia boss said. "I don't love everyday of my job, not everyday brings me joy; nor does joy have to be the definition of a good day... but I love the company every single second."