Jensen Huang

President Jahanian, members of the board of trustees, faculty, distinguished guests, proud parents and families, and above all, the Carnegie Mellon class of 2026. Thank you for this extraordinary honor. It is deeply meaningful to be here with Carnegie Mellon, one of the world's great universities and one of the rare places that invents the future.

Today is a day of pride and joy, a dream come true for you, but not only for you. Your families, teachers, mentors, and friends helped carry you here. Before we talk about the future, thank them.

This day belongs to them, too. Graduates, please stand up. Stand with me. Come on, you guys.

Especially turn to your mothers and wish them a Happy Mother's Day. For you, this is another step in your life. But for her, this is a dream come true.

Please sit down. CMU students, like robots, take instructions one at a time. To see her graduate, to see you Okay, everybody focus. I have something important to tell you.

To see you graduate from one of the world's great institutions, this is her moment, too. My mom and dad are deeply proud of me as well. My journey is their journey.

I am their dream come true, and their dream was the American dream. Like many in this audience, I'm a first-generation immigrant. My father had a dream to raise his family in America.

When I was nine years old, he sent my older brother and me to the United States. We ended up at a Baptist boarding school in Oneida, Kentucky, coal country, a town of a few hundred people. Two years later, my parents left everything behind to join us.

They came with little to nothing. My father was a chemical engineer. My mother worked as a maid at a Catholic school.

She woke me up at four AM in the morning to deliver newspapers. My older brother got me a job as a dishwasher at Denny's, which at the time felt like a major career advancement. That was my view of America.