Nvidia CEO Jensen is worth $42 billion but still eats street food at street markets and visits LAN parties during overseas trips, sheds signature leather jacket

Hanoi street food
(Image credit: VN Express)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is worth $42 billion, but he is still definitely a man of the people. Jensen has been pictured enjoying the affordable and tasty delights of Vietnamese street food, all without his signature leather jacket. He also visited and contributed prizes to a LAN party event in the capital, Hanoi. With the weekend’s fun over, it will be down to business on Monday, as Huang is scheduled to meet up with Vietnamese tech companies and authorities. We previously reported that the Nvidia CEO is in Vietnam to establish a base and develop the country's semiconductor industry.

Jensen Huang is getting a reputation for enjoying life's simpler and more affordable things and harking back to a lifestyle that clashes with the Silicon Valley CEO archetype. Back in May, we reported that the billionaire Nvidia CEO was mingling in the busy night markets of Taipei, where he picked up some tasty street food treats. The previous year, he was captured 'video-bombing' some bemused karaoke singers and making a Lady Gaga song request. When he’s back in the States, he also isn’t shy of visiting Denny’s Diner, where Nvidia’s golden egg was hatched, and he even made himself busy serving green team staff during a recent after-work event at the comfort food chain.

Posted by tuan.hoang.1428 on 

This weekend in Vietnam, VNExpress quotes a government diplomat who gushed that Huang is “skipping luxury dinner parties at hotels and high-end restaurants.” He explained that “Jensen chooses street food with flavors and experiences that are hard to match anywhere else.”

If you want to follow in Huang’s footsteps, the source says that the Nvidia CEO was pictured at a sidewalk restaurant on Luong Ngoc Quyen Street (Hanoi). Additionally, he stopped at a restaurant on Hang Non Street to enjoy beef pho and drink coconut water. He also went to a Goan hotpot restaurant in Hang Thiec and drank Giang coffee on Nguyen Huu Huan Street, according to the source report.

Huang didn’t just spend his time eating and drinking in Hanoi this weekend. A Redditor shared some images and information about the Nvidia boss turning up at a “small LAN party.” In the images, you can see Huang on stage at one of the Vikings eSports Arena locations in Hanoi (there seem to be five of these internet cafe-style venues in the city). He posed for photos with various LAN party attendees, and it also looks like he took part in some kind of awards ceremony.

According to the social media post, Huang contributed prize money to the eSports events that were going on. The iconic PC tech leader was also “funny and sociable.” Meanwhile, it looks like he substituted a fabric jacket for his signature leather one, or RTX was off, someone might quip. Hanoi is still pretty hot and humid at this time of year, so a leather jacket probably isn't comfortable in a non-air-conditioned space. 

Mr. Jensen Huang came to a Nvidia Lan party in Vietnam from r/nvidia

What transpires from Monday's business and government talks remains to be seen. One source suggests Vietnamese semiconductor companies like FPT, Vingroup, and Viettel will be in attendance, along with state ministers, city and science park administrators, and so on.

Nvidia has already invested $250 million in Vietnam, according to Reuters. It is noted that Vietnam already has large chip assembling factories in place, including one of Intel’s biggest facilities. The country could gain further importance as trade tensions between the US and China continue.

Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • -Fran-
    Vietnam, the country that is closest to China and friendly to the USA for trade where you can totally smuggle things with little to no paper trails?

    That same Vietnam?

    I wonder what Mr. Huang was doing there.

    Regards :D
    Reply
  • cknobman
    The fact this guy is worth 42 billion reflects all that is wrong with the industry today.

    Graphics cards should be sooooooooo much cheaper than they are.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    I mean if you aren't asking the locals where the best food is, then you aren't really doing yourself a service when visiting other countries. What an odd thing to focus on.
    Reply
  • hasten
    Eximo said:
    I mean if you aren't asking the locals where the best food is, then you aren't really doing yourself a service when visiting other countries. What an odd thing to focus on.
    I generally agree with you, buttttt maybe with a bit of a caution for Vietnam / Cambodia... I didn't partake in whatever caused it, but a whole group got a parasite that took forever to properly diagnose back in the US. We think it was in Cambodia. No matter, buyer beware!
    Reply
  • Eximo
    Typically, it is recommended to avoid ice and tap water, as that will contain many local bacteria you don't have immunity to. Anything that gets cooked is generally safe for travelers as well as packaged/off the shelf drinks.
    Reply
  • Dementoss
    "Rich man eats street food." Is that what tech news is reduced to these days?
    Reply
  • BX4096
    cknobman said:
    The fact this guy is worth 42 billion reflects all that is wrong with the industry today.

    Graphics cards should be sooooooooo much cheaper than they are.
    When the man has more money than the entire GDP of more than 100 countries in the world AND he got most of it in a single year, it's kind of hard to disagree.

    But hey, he still eats and sleeps like a human person. I do that too. My kind of guy!
    Reply
  • Giroro
    Eximo said:
    I mean if you aren't asking the locals where the best food is, then you aren't really doing yourself a service when visiting other countries. What an odd thing to focus on.

    Jesnsen employs a very well paid PR team to make sure stuff like this makes it into the news.
    He should probably fire them though, because the "Look how relatable I am please stop taxing/hating me" schtick always comes off as super creepy for him.
    It's like "Bobby Kotick bought himself a role in Moneyball" levels of cringe.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    I understand the PR part of it, not like that is paparazzi following him around. Just an odd thing to get regurgitated in the news. Free article idea I guess.
    Reply
  • PEnns
    Whoa! He eats food like the rest of us!!Who knew??

    Amazing news.
    Reply