Jensen Huang’s leather jacket sells for $960,000 at Sotheby’s

A signed Tom Ford leather jacket worn by Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang sold for $960,000 at Sotheby’s on Friday, according to the auction house. The price, reached after 65 bids, was far above Sotheby’s presale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and points to rising collector interest in objects associated with the artificial intelligence boom.

Sotheby’s said 45 collectors bid on the jacket. Brahm Wachter, the auction house’s head of modern collectibles, said in a statement that the response “surpassed even our highest expectations.”

The garment had been worn by Huang in 2023 at an event hosted by Foxconn in Taipei, Taiwan, according to Sotheby’s. CNBC reported that comparable jackets retail for just under $10,000, placing the sale price at a multiple of the item’s commercial value as apparel.

The premium reflects the role of provenance in the collectibles market. In auctions of cultural or business memorabilia, the value is shaped less by the underlying object than by documented ownership, public visibility and association with a person or moment. In this case, the jacket’s connection to Huang links it to Nvidia’s rise as a central supplier of chips used in AI computing.

Huang has made black leather jackets part of his public image over many years. He is often seen wearing them at Nvidia product events, trade shows and public appearances, making the look closely associated with the company’s brand and with Huang’s own status in the technology sector.

Sotheby’s said proceeds from the sale will support a philanthropic initiative for the Edge Institute, a nonprofit focused on innovation. The auction house said the money will be directed toward fellowships, grants and residencies.

The sale also follows broader public attention to Huang’s wardrobe. He has joked in past public appearances about his regular choice of clothing, including telling a podcast in 2023 that his wife and daughter dress him. In a Reddit discussion in 2016, he described himself as “the guy in the leather jacket.”

Other technology executives have engaged with the image as well. Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg exchanged garments with Huang in 2024 in a social media post styled after a professional sports jersey swap. Later that year, during an appearance at a computer graphics conference, Huang gave Zuckerberg a jacket he had been wearing on stage, according to reports cited by CNBC.

For Sotheby’s, the result places a corporate technology artifact in a price range more commonly associated with high-end cultural memorabilia. For collectors, the transaction shows how objects tied to business leaders can acquire value when they become symbols of a wider industrial cycle.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.