Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says paying $8 billion in taxes is a privilege
Nvidia chief Jensen Huang supports a new California tax.
The short version
- Other tech billionaires are leaving the state over the bill.
- Huang says paying billions in taxes is a true privilege.
- He feels grateful for the American system that built his success.
- The tech leader remains happy to stay and pay his share.
Why it matters to you. For your business, state tax policies in tech hubs directly shape where venture money and talent flow.
As tech billionaires pack their bags to dodge a heavy new tax bill, Nvidia, the world's largest chip company, CEO Jensen Huang is taking a stand by staying put. California is weighing Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on residents with assets over $1 billion to fund state health care and education.
While tech leaders like Google cofounder Sergey Brin and former CEO Eric Schmidt have raised over $340 million to fight the measure, according to the Guardian, Huang is going the other way. Standing inside Nvidia's corporate offices in Santa Clara, California, surrounded by engineers and advanced tech hardware, the tech titan made his position clear.
According to Fortune, Huang told CBS Sunday Morning that paying $8 billion in taxes over five years is a privilege. The world's ninth-richest person with a $180 billion net worth explained that his Fortune came from the opportunities America gave him. He says his success would have been impossible without the education and talent pool found right in Silicon Valley.
While other executives like Palantir's Peter Thiel and Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, cofounder Mark Zuckerberg have fled for low-tax states like Florida and Nevada, Huang urges everyone to stay. Huang put it simply: "I'm not afraid of paying taxes. I'm just afraid of being poor."
