CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, has long created a personal icon by choosing a black leather jacket as his preferred attire for important events, except when he needs to wear formal attire. From the GTC developer conference in 2018, the World ITF 2023 event, to Computerx 2023, and even when appearing on the cover of Time magazine as one of the most influential figures in 2021, Huang has remained faithful to this style. In a Reddit AMA in 2016, he described himself as the “man in the leather jacket.”
Therefore, Jensen Huang wearing a different leather jacket at the recent GTC 2024 event did not surprise many. Keeping the familiar black color, this leather jacket continues to demonstrate Huang’s taste and deep understanding of real leather fashion to what extent.
Accordingly, the CEO of the trillion-dollar company has chosen a textured Tejus crocodile leather jacket, which belongs to the Tom Ford SS2023 collection for men. This choice reflects not only Huang’s aesthetics but also shows that the Nvidia CEO especially likes the exquisite details of the collar, zipper, and cuffs. It is worth noting that this jacket is not made of python or crocodile skin – which is banned in California – but is actually made of calf leather with a price tag of $8,990 – equivalent to the value of more than 10 Nvidia shares at the time of writing (around $890 per share).
However, there is an interesting piece of information for fans of the Nvidia CEO’s style: this Tom Ford leather jacket is currently 40% off at the luxury retailer Luisa Via Roma in Italy. Despite the discount, its price is still $5,394, higher than the value of 6 Nvidia shares.
Why does CEO Jensen Huang wear leather jackets everywhere?
In an interview with HP’s “The Moment” program, host Ryan Patel inquired about Huang’s fashion taste, referring to the signature leather jacket and noted that many people see him as a fashion star. Modestly, Huang responded that he is happy to have his family choose this style for him and rejected being called a fashion star.
This distinctive style not only makes Huang stand out but also makes him known as a fashion icon on social media, despite regularly choosing only one type of outfit. According to his spokesperson, Huang has maintained this style for over 20 years, going hand in hand with the process of building Nvidia into one of the world’s leading technology companies.
Even more so, Huang is not hesitant to wear his favorite leather jacket in different weather conditions. Even on a trip to India with a temperature of 32 degrees Celsius in New Delhi, he still stays true to his style. Business Insider once described Huang’s image: “From one city to another, in each selfie photo, Jensen Huang has endured the heat to maintain his special ‘uniform’ style.”
Huang’s fashion style itself has become a heated discussion topic, with many people curious about the prices and brands of these leather jackets. Some people even joke about whether he wears them while sleeping, while others believe that these jackets are high-priced, potentially from prestigious brands like Hermès with prices over $10,000. Seizing the popularity of the leather jacket, online stores have started selling similar models of Jensen Huang’s jackets for $99, and according to Business Insider, these jackets quickly sold out on Amazon.
Not only Jensen Huang, but the pursuit and wearing of a single type of outfit has also been applied by many other famous figures like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, aiming to shape themselves through a distinctive style. Jobs always chose Issey Miyake’s turtleneck, while Zuckerberg favored Brunello Cucinelli’s T-shirt. They shared that this helped them save time and focus more on work.
Returning to Jensen Huang, besides standing out in fashion, the Nvidia CEO is also an icon in the technology industry thanks to his contributions to the semiconductor industry and the success of the company’s graphics chips. Born in Taipei in 1963 and having lived in Taiwan and Thailand, Huang, along with two friends Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, founded Nvidia in 1993 with an initial investment of $40,000.
After years of operation, in 2022, the explosion of ChatGPT created a global frenzy for Nvidia’s AI chips, pushing the company’s market capitalization from $400 billion in January to $1 trillion by the end of May.
At the recent GTC 2024 event, Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell B200 – Nvidia’s new generation of GPUs for data centers and AI. This is also the successor device to GPU models like Hopper H100 and super chip Grace Hopper GH200. Nvidia also announced the integration of general AI into the cuLitho working process, which is currently being applied by TSMC and Synopsys to accelerate the development of optical computing.
