The most expensive NVIDIA-branded item this month may not have a GPU
Sotheby’s is auctioning Jensen Huang’s signed black leather jacket, one of the Tom Ford pieces associated with the NVIDIA CEO’s public appearances. The auction estimate is set at $40,000 to $60,000, which puts it far above the price of the jacket itself and deep into high-end GPU territory.
At NVIDIA’s official $1,999 RTX 5090 starting price, the upper estimate would cover around 30 Founders Edition cards. However, anyone who has tried to buy a flagship GPU in the last year will know MSRP is not always the price users actually see.
Using inflated RTX 5090 retail pricing, the jacket is closer to ten cards. Some RTX 5090 listings have already pushed near the $5,000 range, turning the GPU’s model name into a pricing joke by itself. In that context, the jacket auction is less absurd than it first sounds. It just has fewer CUDA cores and no 12V-2×6 connector.
Source: Sothesby’s
Signed jacket, authenticated appearance
Sotheby’s says the jacket comes from Huang himself and has been photomatched by PSA to his appearance at Hon Hai Tech Day in Taipei on October 18, 2023. The signature has also been authenticated by James Spence Authentication.
Source: Sothesby’s
The listing presents the jacket as part of Huang’s public image during NVIDIA’s shift from gaming GPU supplier to the main hardware supplier behind the AI boom. Sotheby’s also notes that Huang wore similar jackets at product launches, developer conferences and major company announcements. To be hoenst when I was checking this story out, I never realized Jensen has so many different jackets.
The sale is being organized as a charity auction by Long Journey Ventures. Proceeds will benefit the Edge Institute, a non-profit focused on fellowships, grants and residencies for young builders working across technology, science, culture and society.
Source: Sothesby’s
