Jensen Huang invited the chairpersons and chief executives of a host of Nvidia AI chip-building partners to a lavish meal on Saturday. According to the Central New Agency (machine translated), at least 35 execs attended what is being locally referred to as Huang’s ‘trillion dollar banquet.’ Industry luminaries attending included the heads of Quanta, Asus, Acer, Inventec, Gigabyte, ASRock, and MSI. The Nvidia CEO also gave a short interview alongside TSMC chairman CC Wei, where both industry giants had nothing but praise for each other.
This lunch out is reminiscent of Huang’s dinner with the heads of TSMC, MediaTek, and Quanta just before Computex 2024. However, the media did not have to speculate as to why the Nvidia CEO brought some of the biggest names in the computer industry here. He has previously said that he intends to meet with the CEOs of Nvidia’s supply chain partners to thank them for building Nvidia, and this catered event is likely the culmination of that promise.
Outside the restaurant, Taiwanese media interviewed the Nvidia CEO and the TSMC chairman. “[It’s] my pleasure and my honor to supply the chips to you and be a partner for more than 20 years,” CC Wei said to Jensen. “On behalf of my friends inside the restaurant, we thank you for bringing business to Taiwan.”
Regarding Nvidia’s partnership with TSMC, Huang said, “My hair was 100% black, now it’s 100% silver. So, without TSMC, of course, Nvidia would not be possible.” He also added, “Because of the PC revolution, there was Computex, and then the world started coming to Taiwan.” Wei interjected, “Jensen Huang bring it to Taiwan, remember that.” To which the Nvidia CEO replied with a smile, “That is not true!”
Aside from being industry partners for several decades, it seems that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and TSMC Chairperson CC Wei built a friendship — something rarely seen by the public.
Huang of the people
Although Jensen Huang is one of the richest people on earth, what separates him from other Silicon Valley billionaires is how relatable he is to the people. For example, he was spotted in late 2023 eating street food in Vietnam and visiting a LAN party in Hanoi, and he has been acting much the same with night market visits during this latest visit to Taiwan.
True enough, when he saw that there was a crowd waiting for him outside of the restaurant as he was eating with industry leaders, he came out for a moment to hand out sausages and sesame buns to the people. He also signed some autographs and got a couple of pictures taken with some lucky fans.
A few lucky kids also received “hongbao” or red envelopes containing NT$1,000 or about US$30 from Jensen. Aside from the monetary value, these gifts also symbolize love, blessings, and good luck, which many children expect to receive during the Chinese New Year. It’s actions like these that make him so loved by the Taiwanese people, leading to the rise of ‘Jensanity’, especially as Huang himself was born in Tainan, Taiwan, although he is also an American citizen.