Jensen Huang's leather jacket sells for $960,000 at Sotheby's, 96 times its retail price
Forty-five collectors drove the bidding to 96 times the pre-sale estimate, with proceeds going to the Edge Institute.
The auction
A black Tom Ford leather jacket owned and signed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sold for $960,000 at Sotheby's in New York on Friday. The pre-sale estimate was $40,000 to $60,000, and the jacket retails for just under $10,000. Forty-five collectors placed 65 bids, pushing the final price to 96 times the retail value. Huang wore the jacket at a Foxconn event in Taipei in 2023 and signed it specifically for the auction.
The response to this sale surpassed even our highest expectations.
The jacket and its owner
Huang, 63, has made the leather jacket his trademark for nearly 20 years, wearing it at product launches, trade shows, and company events. A spokesperson told the New York Times in June 2023 that Huang had worn such jackets for at least two decades. He appeared in one on the cover of Time Magazine's 2021 most influential people issue. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg traded garments with Huang in a "jersey swap" in 2024 and later received one of Huang's jackets on stage at a computer graphics conference.
This is worth more because it's used.
Charity beneficiary
All proceeds from the sale go to the Edge Institute, a nonprofit organization. Sotheby's describes it as supporting innovation through fellowships, grants, and residencies. German outlets report that the institute also offers English lessons and familiarizes professionals with Western business and education methods.
Tech CEO memorabilia
The auction places Huang's jacket in a small category of tech-founder clothing sold at auction. A black turtleneck belonging to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs fetched $2,880 in 2016. On the same day as the jacket sale, Apple overtook Nvidia as the world's most valuable company by market capitalization.
- Jensen Huang's leather jacket (2026)
- 960000 $
- Steve Jobs' black turtleneck (2016)
- 2880 $
Market backdrop
The AI boom has driven Nvidia's market cap to $4.86 trillion, turning its CEO's wardrobe into a collectible asset class. Brahm Wachter called the jacket an object "very closely linked to one of the defining personalities of the age of artificial intelligence." The sale reflects the cultural status that Nvidia's financial ascent has conferred on its founder, even as Apple reclaimed the top spot in market valuation on Friday.
