(This story has been refiled to correct the name to Han-yun, not Han-yuan, in paragraph 9)
By Ben Blanchard and Wen-Yee Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Wherever AI darling Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang goes in Taiwan, his adoring fans and excited reporters follow, hanging on his every word, arms outstretched as they beseech him to sign books, posters and even baseballs.
Huang, born in Taiwan’s historic capital of Tainan before migrating to the United States when he was nine, is visiting Taipei this week for the annual Computex trade show, and his every move has been watched since his private jet touched down on Friday afternoon.
“Jensen I love you!” one woman shouted out to him from the crowd in English as he greeted a throng in front of a Taipei restaurant on Saturday night where he was entertaining Taiwanese tech titans from companies like chipmaker TSMC, dubbed by local media the “trillion dollar dinner” given the market capitalisation of the assembled firms.
“I love coming to Taiwan and love seeing everybody here and I appreciate their support, and everybody’s very, very kind,” Huang told Reuters when asked about the wildly enthusiastic reception he gets in Taiwan.
Visiting Taipei for Computex last year, some Taiwanese media termed the expression “Jensanity” to describe the level of devotion he generates when he visits.
This year, Nvidia has set up a pop-up store selling playing cards, shirts and other memorabilia with Huang’s image on it.
His fame in Taiwan prompts bafflement from Nvidia colleagues, given he is often largely unnoticed when he attends similar events in the United States, and concern from his bodyguards as they try to hold back reporters and fans alike.
“He’s not saying anything important,” one bodyguard told reporters, asking them to step back as Huang handed out fried ice cream to his gathered fans on Saturday night outside the restaurant, where he and his guests enjoyed rice noodle soup and Taiwan’s award-winning Kavalan whisky.
“He has encouraged Taiwanese young people like myself. I believe what he is doing is something we should learn from,” said 21-year-old student Hsu Han-yun, who got Huang’s autograph outside the restaurant.
GUEST OF HONOUR AT SPORTING EVENT
After finishing the dinner, Huang rushed off to the opening ceremony of the World Masters Games, an Olympics adjacent event for athletes mostly over 30, where he was a guest of honour along with Olympics gold medalist boxer Lin Yu-ting and renowned Taiwanese actor and director Sylvia Chang.
Huang’s participation even briefly embroiled Taiwan’s presidential office, after criticism from opposition politicians that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim was only making a last-minute appearance to “freeload” on Huang also being there.
When Hsiao confirmed she was going she did not know Huang would also be doing so, and in any case the presidential security detail had checked out the venue a month ago, her office said in a statement.
Given the intensity and breathlessness of the Taiwanese media coverage, at least one government department weighed in over the weekend to set the record straight on one issue – how much it costs to park his Bombardier private jet at Taipei’s downtown Songshan airport.
Taiwan’s transport ministry said it would be T$95,562 ($3,167) assuming he was staying for six days – following local media reports as to the cost and length of stay.
“The number reported in the media of more than T$60,000 is wrong, (nobody asked the Civil Aviation Administration or the airport, and the source of this is unclear),” it added, in a slightly indignant tone.
In the end, the aircraft, operated by executive aircraft charter operator VistaJet, left Taipei on Saturday afternoon to fly to Honolulu, according to flight tracking apps.
($1 = 30.1770 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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