Few CEOs have had as distinct a public image as Nvidia founder Jensen Huang. The leather jackets, the social media cameos resulting from his street-food enthusiasm, the theatrical optimism about an AI future powered in part by his company’s chips. For years, Huang’s personal brand has been effective and winning.

But now, of course, the revelation of an extramarital affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy, and another with a subordinate, has thrown 63-year-old Huang’s reputation into a tailspin, and ultimately cost him his job, as he resigned under pressure from Nvidia’s board. As for that potent personal brand—it may well have worked against him.

Huang isn’t the first business figure to cultivate a high-flying public image, only to see it crash back to reality. Elon Musk rode a quirky mad genius vibe into hosting SNL in 2021; today his reputation is, let’s say, mixed. Elizabeth Holmes landed on magazine covers as an innovator with a turtleneck and a husky voice; today she is in prison. The AI boom seems particularly fueled by larger-than-life characters, and figures like OpenAI chief Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei have already seen their demigod status undermined.

But the arc of The Brand Called Jensen Huang stands out. Just a few years ago, Huang’s public profile was modest. S. at age 9. He went on to work in Silicon Valley as a chip designer, and co-founded Nvidia in 1993. Only in the past couple of years, as AI took off, have its industry-leading chips become widely coveted, making Nvidia a household name —and Huang a public figure.

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