By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told graduates and academics that "the age of AI has started" in a speech on Saturday, after receiving an honorary doctorate degree in engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The head of the world's leading maker of chips used for artificial intelligence applications received the award alongside actor Tony Leung, Nobel Prize for Chemistry winner Prof. Michael Levitt and Fields Medallist Prof. David Mumford.

"The age of AI has started. A new computing era that will impact every industry and every field of science," said Huang.

He said Nvidia has "reinvented computing and sparked a new industrial revolution," 25 years after inventing the graphics processing unit.

"AI is certainly the most important technology of our time, and potentially of all times."

Huang, 61, also told graduates that he wished he had started his career at this time.

"The whole world is reset. You're at the starting lines with everybody else. An industry is being reinvented. You now have the instruments, the instruments necessary to advance science in so many different fields," Huang said.

"The greatest challenges of our time, unimaginable challenges to overcome in the past, all of a sudden seem possible to tackle."

In the afternoon, Huang will participate in a fireside chat with the university's Council Chairman Harry Sham, teachers and students.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Christopher Cushing)