Jensen Huang's visits to China have often been highlighted in media coverage and shared by the public via social media, with a frequent focus on his dining experiences. It is unclear whether this reflects a personal interest or is part of a crafted public image. Nonetheless, establishments he visits invariably seize the opportunity for celebrity-driven promotion. For instance, a late-January photo with the owner of a soup dumpling restaurant in Shanghai was promptly printed and displayed in an acrylic frame, becoming a standout feature of the venue—a term once popular but now often viewed as outdated.

However, Huang himself is far from outdated. His company, NVDA, stands as one of the world's most critical technology firms, arguably without need for qualifiers. The chipmaker is not merely a participant in the AI era but a rule-setter and infrastructure builder. Without NVDA, the current AI revolution could not proceed at its present pace and scale. A popular quip captures this well: “At the end of AI lies Jensen Huang’s warehouse.” This significance ensures that his movements attract consistent attention.

Huang’s first China trip in 2026 began in late January and extended into early February, spanning four cities in ten days: Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Taipei. Whether by design or not, the itinerary was strategically laid out.

In the first three stops, his activities mainly involved shopping, dining, distributing red envelopes, and attending local NVDA company events. In Taipei, in addition to these, Huang also met with NVDA’s supply chain partners.

On the evening of January 31, Huang hosted a dinner for nearly 40 top executives from key companies in the global AI industry chain. According to media estimates, the combined market capitalization of the firms represented exceeded NT$1 trillion, approximately US$30–35 billion. This gathering of leaders from trillion-dollar-market-cap enterprises showcased “trillion-dollar business influence”—their companies collectively form a complete AI hardware supply chain, from chip design and manufacturing to packaging, thermal management, and system assembly.

This dinner, effectively a “global AI power roundtable,” has been held semi-annually since mid-2024, evolving into a mechanism for NVDA to maintain core partnerships, allocate orders, and synchronize strategies. It has even become a barometer for AI industry sentiment.

Thus, Taipei was the most crucial stop on this China trip. Everyone in the city, from the mayor to night market stall owners, held high expectations for Huang’s visit.

Mayor Chiang Wan-an had expressed his desire to meet Huang more than a month earlier, hoping to leverage the occasion of NVDA’s “overseas headquarters” signing ceremony in Taipei.

In 2022, NVDA established its first AI innovation R&D center in Taipei’s Neihu district, leasing 60% of a building in Nangang for NT$2.9 billion (approx. RMB 640 million) under a 10-year agreement. Two years later, during his appearance at COMPUTEX 2024, Huang announced plans to expand investment, including setting up a large R&D center within five years with at least 1,000 engineers, and expressed the need for an “overseas headquarters.”

Huang emphasized that the electronics supply chain ecosystem was central to the headquarters location decision. Nearly all of NVDA’s most advanced process chips—from Blackwell and Rubin to future generations—are manufactured by TSMC, while over 70% of advanced CoWoS packaging capacity is handled by companies like TSMC, ASE Group, and Powertech Technology. Therefore, NVDA needed a physical presence in Taiwan “on equal footing with its Santa Clara headquarters” to facilitate rapid co-design, validation, debugging, yield improvement, and next-generation technology R&D.

In Huang’s plan, this overseas headquarters would preferably be located in Taipei, requiring at least 3 hectares of land.

The Taipei city government responded proactively, and cooperation progressed quickly. In 2025, during his keynote at COMPUTEX, Huang officially announced that the overseas headquarters, named “NVIDIA Constellation,” would be situated on plots T17 and T18 in Taipei’s Beitou-Shilin Technology Park, covering approximately 3.89 hectares.

However, these plots had already been secured under land use rights by Shin Kong Life Insurance, a subsidiary of Taishin Financial Holdings, in November 2021. Shin Kong Life welcomed NVDA’s entry, and the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2025.

Complications arose due to contractual stipulations that the land use rights “could only be transferred after project completion,” raising concerns at Shin Kong Life about potential accusations of favoritism or breach of trust. This was especially sensitive given former Mayor Ko Wen-je’s indictment over alleged favoritism related to the Taipei Dome project. Mayor Chiang demonstrated notable cross-departmental coordination and crisis management skills, eventually facilitating negotiations between Taipei City and Shin Kong Life. In October 2025, Shin Kong Life announced it would relinquish the T17 and T18 land rights, entering a “mutual agreement termination” process with the city. Chiang personally announced the “good news” at a city council meeting, visibly pleased.

On November 24, 2025, Mayor Chiang met with a NVDA vice president who had traveled to Taiwan specifically for the discussion. They agreed to aim for a signing before the Lunar New Year, with construction expected to begin by mid-2026.

NVDA secured its preferred site for a strategically vital overseas headquarters, Shin Kong Life received compensation commensurate with its early investment, and Taipei stood to gain thousands of jobs, billions in investment, and AI industry cluster effects—benefiting the local economy and job market. Beyond these three parties, Chiang also emerged a winner. The NVIDIA Constellation project not only promised significant economic uplift for Taipei but also bolstered his re-election prospects. In urban constituencies like Taipei, economic issues—including investment attraction—often sway voters. The project’s impact on Taipei’s AI sector translated directly into quantifiable political capital, helping Chiang consolidate support among middle-class residents and tech professionals.

A formal meeting with Huang during the headquarters signing ceremony would further elevate Chiang’s political profile. Thus, he repeatedly extended public invitations, expressing hope for such an encounter in media interviews without confirming whether Huang’s team had responded positively.

Huang, for his part, never directly addressed the matter. Even when questioned by reporters waiting at the airport or outside the “trillion-dollar dinner” venue in Taipei, he responded with vague or playful remarks.

The Taipei city government had planned several events where Chiang and Huang could appear together and even pre-ordered 300 servings of snacks from six stalls in the Shilin Night Market for Huang and his entourage to enjoy after the日程. However, on January 25, all these planned activities were canceled.

The official explanation cited Huang’s tight schedule. A more plausible interpretation is Huang’s reluctance to wade into political sensitivities. Mainland China is a key market for NVDA, while Taiwan is central to its supply chain. Huang carefully maintains at least a visible balance between the two regions. Similarly, he avoids involvement in domestic political rivalries in Taiwan, especially given recent heightened partisan sentiments that have hindered rational discussion of socio-economic issues. A stark example is the criticism faced by TSMC and its CEO, C.C. Wei, over the company’s investment plans in the United States.

Pro-Blue Camp commentators on Taiwanese television mocked the Green Camp’s inability to secure a meeting with Huang. While it’s unclear if this was by design, Huang visibly avoided appearing aligned with any political faction.

It was only on February 2, before departing Taipei, that Huang indicated to media he would attend the project signing ceremony and meet with Mayor Chiang, though he did not specify a date.

What remains uncertain is whether such a meeting would entail substantive discussions or, as has often been the case, consist merely of polite pleasantries.