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Taiwan-born Huang mobbed by fans, media during visit to

Taipei

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Huang in town to attend Computex trade fair

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Huang dines with top execs from companies including TSMC

By Ben Blanchard and Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, May 19 (Reuters) - Wherever AI darling Nvidia's ( NVDA )

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 ( NVDA ) 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 ( NVDA )

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)