Before the billions: Jensen and Lori Huang’s first homes were modest San Jose houses, one bought before Nvidia was founded

Before Jensen Huang became the billionaire CEO of Nvidia, he and his wife Lori, were building their life in San Jose, California in modest homes.

Their first house had three bedrooms and measured about 1,500 square feet. The couple sold it for $185,000 in 1988 and moved into a larger four bedroom home nearby, as per reports. The second property measured around 2,300 square feet and cost $338,000.

Nvidia did not exist when they bought that second house. Jensen would co-found the chipmaker in 1993, five years after the purchase.


Today, the company is worth trillions of dollars, but Huang is facing a very different kind of attention. His admission of infidelity, reports about a woman suspected of having links to Chinese intelligence and an investigation by Nvidia's board have put his personal life under scrutiny.

Jensen Huang and Lori Huang's early homes in San Jose

The couple met while studying electrical engineering at Oregon State University before moving to San Jose. Their first home was a three-bedroom property covering approximately 1,500 square feet.

As per Wall Street Journal report, the couple sold the house for $185,000 in 1988. Its original purchase price has not been disclosed.

They bought their second home that year for $338,000. The four bedroom property was larger, measuring approximately 2,300 square feet.

The Huangs sold that house in 2002 for $500,000. And by then, Nvidia had been publicly traded for three years.

Nvidia CEO went from a $338,000 home to a multimillion dollar estate

Jensen co-founded Nvidia in 1993 with fellow engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. And the idea for the company took shape during a discussion at a Denny's restaurant in San Jose.

The couple's property purchases grew as Nvidia expanded. In 2003, they paid $6.9 million for a newly built home in Los Altos Hills, California. The six-bedroom property measured more than 7,000 square feet.

In 2017, they bought a San Francisco mansion for $38 million, according to Yahoo Finance.

Their first San Jose houses were a long way from the properties they would own later. The first was sold for $185,000, while the second cost $338,000 when they bought it in 1988.

Jensen Huang admits infidelity amid reports about Alice Huang

Huang's personal life has recently become the focus of a growing controversy. On November 8, he told Nvidia employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. He apologised to Lori, their children and colleagues, acknowledging that his actions had hurt his family.

The admission came amid reports about his relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International. She is not related to Jensen Huang and has been identified in media reports as a woman suspected by US authorities of having links to Chinese intelligence.

The allegations have drawn attention to Megaspeed and questions about whether Nvidia chips were diverted to Chinese companies despite US export restrictions. Alice Huang's alleged intelligence links have not been publicly established, and China has rejected the accusations.

On November 8, Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation after reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it had no reason to believe that Nvidia's secrets or US national security had been compromised. Huang said he supported the review and would cooperate fully.

Shareholder lawsuit and $7.5 billion chip shipment allegations

The controversy reached the courts, when a shareholder filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Nvidia and Huang in federal court in San Jose.

Reuters reported that the complaint accuses them of misleading investors about Huang's alleged relationship with Alice Huang and the potential risks to Nvidia's reputation and business.

The scrutiny intensified on November 10 after Reuters reported on an investigation by The Information, citing two people familiar with Alice Huang, the publication alleged that a network of companies connected to her, her husband and her sister helped secure at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips for Chinese firms.

The report said the network helped move about 240,000 H100, H200 and some A100 chips into China after orders subject to US export restrictions stalled.