Jensen Huang is really leaning into his street-food influencer era

Jensen Huang is best known as the billionaire CEO who transformed Nvidia into the world’s most valuable company. On the side, the tech mogul has been building a reputation as a street food influencer.

On Sunday, Nvidia and the company’s newsroom account posted videos on X of Huang visiting the Raohe Street Night Market in Taipei, Taiwan, where crowds of onlookers gathered as he ordered food from local vendors.

Huang also took the opportunity to scribble a timeless “Jensen was here” note on a bathroom wall:

One video captured a throng of people waiting just outside a store for Huang, and cheering as he emerged:

Earlier this month, after accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to China alongside a delegation of business leaders, Huang was also spotted eating noodles at a roadside stall in Beijing.

It’s not unusual for Huang to be seen trying local delicacies, and the Nvidia CEO has emerged as something of a street-food connoisseur. Over the years, he has been photographed buying food at night markets and street food spots across the world, including in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

Dan Liu, a tech founder, has compiled a list of what he says is every restaurant, stall, and noodle shop Huang has visited around the world. Jensen Eats’ running tally includes 47 spots so far, from a Korean fried chicken spot in Santa Clara to a hotpot restaurant in Shanghai.

Huang’s love of food is well-known in Silicon Valley circles. In an April 2024 podcast interview with Robert Nickson, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Huang once invited him over for cheesesteaks.

“Jensen is really into cooking, so he invited me over to his house,” Zuckerberg said.

Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison also recalled having dinner with Huang. In 2024, he said that he and Elon Musk once begged Huang for GPUs at Nobu in Palo Alto.

Huang got his start in a restaurant. At 15, he worked at a Denny’s in Portland as a dishwasher, waiter, and busboy. Years later, it was another Denny’s in San Jose where Huang and Nvidia’s cofounders Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem first discussed the idea that would become Nvidia.

Now, the Denny’s spot at 2484 Berryessa Road has a plaque dedicated to that history-making moment.

Of course, it’s not all noodles and posing with fans on the street for the CEO of a $5.2 trillion company.

In an interview with Channel News Asia in Taiwan that aired on Monday, Huang addressed one of the hot-button topics that keeps coming up in the tech world: layoffs being attributed to AI.

“I think the narrative that connects AI to job loss for many of the CEOs that are doing it, it is just too lazy,” Huang told CNA.

Huang’s latest street food appearances come shortly after Nvidia delivered earnings beats throughout its latest earnings report. It delivered $81.6 billion in revenue in its first quarter, beating its $79.15 billion estimate. The company’s stock is up 14% this year.