Jensen Huang, CEO Of Nvidia, Becomes A Highlight In Taiwan, Called "Jensanity" Viral

JAKARTA - The arrival of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to Taiwan over the past week and a half has been a deep spotlight. Each step was followed with great enthusiasm.

Huang, a successful local child, became the subject of constant news on Taiwan television and was followed by reporters. He was invaded by visitors at the Computex technology trading show and became a topic of conversation on thousands of social media posts.

Every restaurant Huang visited was specially promoted by a broadcaster, which led to an increase in business for the lucky restaurants. "Jensanity", some Taiwanese say its popularity that exceeds the sky has taken control of the island.

On Computex, Huang, wearing a leather jacket, holding a plastic glass filled with beer, shouted at a group of people who surrounded him: "Who made the best graphics cards?"Nvidia!" they exclaimed back.

For fans, Huang, founder and leader of the artificial intelligence chip giant - is now the third largest company in the United States and key in the artificial intelligence revolution - receiving only the appropriate award.

"He's so inspiring - he's one of us," said engineer Hol Chang, 38, while waiting to hear Huang's speech at Computex this week. "What he's doing will change the world," he said.

"He's like a pop star. That's how we look at it," said Amanda Shih, who works in finance and is delighted to have seen him at Computex after failing to get a ticket for a speech given at National Taiwan University.

His fame in Taiwan has created a surprise from Nvidia colleagues and executives in the chip industry. Others note that this intense interest has never occurred in the United States. In Silicon Valley, where Nvidia is based, sometimes he is recognized, but not always.

Huang, 61, who was born in the southern city of Tainan, Taiwan's old capital, before migrating to the United States at the age of 9, has returned the love.

He has become acquainted with figures such as Morris Chang, founder of Taiwanese chip giant TSMC, in the popular Ningxia Night Market, but also took the time to meet with ordinary admirers.

He patiently stopped posing together for selfies, answered questions about the food he had eaten, and signed an autograph including an unconventional request from a female fan to sign his shirt on his chest.

Pada Sabtu malam, Huang melemparkan bola pertama dalam pertandingan baseball di Taipei, dan meminta maaf kepada penonton atas bahasa Mandarin buruknya yang dikatakan baru dipelajarinya di Amerika Serikat.

"I want to tell you that I am very grateful that you made me and our company Nvidia feel very welcome in Taiwan. Taiwan is home to Nvidia's valuable partners," he said in English, before naming names such as TSMC and Foxconn.

He regularly speaks in Taiwanese while on the streets of Taiwan and in press events. The language is closely related to those who fight for Taiwan's separated identity from China, although it is also used in China's Fujian province and is generally known as Hokkien.

"In the past, some people demeaned the Taiwanese. Now Jensen Huang, 'a trillion dollar person', naturally uses his mother's language," wrote Wang Ting-yu, a senior lawmaker for Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, in a post on Facebook.

Huang's comments that he is thinking about building another research and development center in Taiwan, perhaps in southern cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung, where many technology manufacturing have been going on, sparked relaxed but serious proposals by the mayors of the two cities on Facebook.

"I myself have a sailing license. If Nvidia employees in the future are welcomed in Kaohsiung, we will provide three ship seats, so they can go to sea at any time," wrote the mayor of the city Chen Chi-mai on top of a picture of himself captaining the sailing ship.