Jensen Huang's Leather Jacket Sold at Auction for $960,000: 96 Times the Retail Price

One of the famous black leather jackets by Tom Ford worn by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was indeed auctioned by Sotheby's for $960,000, an amount equal to about 96 times its retail price, which is under $10,000. The outcome of the auction far exceeded the expectations of the auction house itself. The preliminary assessment had placed the item between $40,000 and $60,000, but the interest from collectors quickly drove up the final price. A total of 65 bids were recorded from 45 different participants.

The jacket had been worn by Huang during an event organized by Foxconn in Taipei in 2023 and was subsequently signed by the NVIDIA CEO specifically for the sale. The entire proceeds will go to the Edge Institute, a non-profit organization that funds programs dedicated to innovation through scholarships, grants, and residencies for researchers.

According to Brahm Wachter, head of Sotheby's Modern Collectibles department, the market's response exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts of the auction house. This result is interpreted as a sign of the growing interest among collectors in items related to the key players of the artificial intelligence revolution, a sector that in recent years has gained unprecedented economic and media weight.

The leather jacket has been a hallmark of Jensen Huang's public image for nearly two decades. The CEO typically wears it during product presentations, international conferences, industry fairs, and corporate events. Huang has often joked about the topic, stating in a 2023 podcast that it is his wife and daughter who choose his outfits, while in a 2016 Reddit discussion, he simply referred to himself as "the guy with the leather jacket."

The notoriety of this garment has also reached other executives in Silicon Valley. In 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg participated in a symbolic jacket exchange with Huang, similar to what happens between athletes in professional sports. Later, during a conference dedicated to computer graphics, Huang gifted Zuckerberg one of the jackets he was wearing on stage. Upon receiving it, the Meta CEO quipped that the jacket was "more valuable precisely because it was used."