These days, wherever Jensen Huang goes, adoring crowds chant his name and clamor for selfies and autographs.
The CEO of Nvidia enjoys rock star status, which was evident during his visit to Taiwan this week. He posed for countless pictures and even signed a woman’s top, just below her cleavage. Locals dubbed the frenzy “Jensanity.”
His peers are well aware of the fan excitement Huang generates. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has compared him to “Taylor Swift, but for tech.”
The bespectacled, grey-haired 61-year-old dresses the part, with a black leather jacket as his signature style.
Huang is at the forefront of a technology boom, with Nvidia being the world’s leading designer of artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
Earlier this week, Nvidia’s market value surged past $3 trillion (£2.3 trillion), making it the second most valuable company in the world, overtaking Apple briefly before pulling back.
Nvidia’s shares have also risen by more than 200% over the past year.
“He is literally being treated like a rock star,” says technology analyst Bob O’Donnell.
“Nvidia’s last big conference in San Jose was in a stadium. It was jam-packed and huge lines of people couldn’t get in. It was like a rock concert,” Mr O’Donnell said.
“This time, he spoke in a sports stadium in Taiwan. I joked that he was on his arena tour.”
Nvidia, headquartered in California, initially gained recognition for creating graphics processing chips, especially for computer games.
Mr. Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993, and the company eventually shifted its focus to AI, a field it now dominates.
Interest in AI surged following the 2022 launch of ChatGPT, which relied on Nvidia chips. The chatbot was trained using 10,000 of Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) clustered in a supercomputer.
This success propelled Nvidia into the elite club of US companies worth at least $1 trillion last May, joining the ranks of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft.
While Microsoft remains the world’s most valuable listed company, Nvidia is not far behind.
In Asia, Nvidia’s success has benefited Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC, the exclusive production partner for Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips. Shares of TSMC reached a record high on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday.
A ‘casual, approachable energy’
Mr Huang credits his wife and daughter for his love of leather jackets. A spokesperson from Nvidia says he has been wearing the classic outerwear for more than two decades.
His latest pick, an embossed biker jacket from American fashion house Tom Ford, retailed for almost $9,000.
He has kept it on even during appearances in tropical countries like Singapore.
“Leather jackets can signal an edge: a willingness to break rules, do things differently and challenge the status quo,” says fashion stylist Sera Murphy.
“Jensen’s signature style gives him a casual, approachable energy,” she adds.
A signature style is common among technology CEOs.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famously wore a black St. Croix mock turtleneck sweater, blue Levi’s 501 jeans, and New Balance 991 trainers almost every day.
Mark Zuckerberg is known for his plain sweaters and t-shirts from luxury fashion brands. Last March, he shared a photo of himself and Jensen Huang swapping jackets.
According to Ms. Murphy, “uniform dressing” can help entrepreneurs project an image of stability for their companies.
“People need consistency from leaders. Dressing in a uniform makes things predictable in a market that is volatile and unpredictable,” she added.
Mr O’Donnell expects Mr Huang to continue making appearances at events around the world.
“At technology conferences, everyone wants Jensen on stage and he’s happy to join. What he has done makes him appear everywhere. He’s positioned himself as the figurehead of generative AI,” Mr O’Donnell says.
“The issue is the industry does not like monopolies. Nvidia has a huge market share, but competitors like AMD and Intel are starting to catch up,” he added.
“Jensen sees this opportunity to build on Nvidia. He’s obviously enjoying the moment. In Taiwan, he’s also the local boy done good. That is something people can rally around.”