Jensen Huang expected to visit Korea, raising hopes for investments, partnerships amid competition from Taiwan
Published: 29 May. 2026, 15:51
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang cheers with employees during a celebration at the construction site of the company's Taiwan headquarters on May 27. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/29/1c297385-e054-4073-93f9-3a8611970a08.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang cheers with employees during a celebration at the construction site of the company's Taiwan headquarters on May 27. [AP/YONHAP]
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to visit Korea next week, drawing attention to potential investment and partnership opportunities as Korea’s semiconductor industry faces mounting competition from China and Taiwan.
Taiwan is accelerating efforts to cement its position as East Asia’s AI hub by leveraging its strengths in semiconductor design, manufacturing and packaging. At the same time, China’s push to expand its semiconductor industry through memory chips has put pressure on Korea’s chip sector.
“Four years ago, five years ago, Nvidia was spending about $10 [billion], $15 billion a year in Taiwan,” said Huang during an event to celebrate the start of construction on the company’s Taiwan headquarters on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “Now we’re spending $100 [billion], going to $150 billion in Taiwan each year.”
Huang also described Taiwan as the “epicenter” of the AI revolution.
He later attended a dinner with key executives, including TSMC CEO and Chairman Che Chia Wei.
The timing also works in Taiwan’s favor.
As Computex Taipei 2026, one of the world’s largest technology exhibitions, prepares to open in the capital on Tuesday, it is drawing increasing attention from global AI and semiconductor leaders. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Marvell Technology CEO Matt Murphy and Arm CEO Rene Haas are all expected to visit Taiwan.
AMD CEO Lisa Su visited Taiwan on May 21 and announced plans to invest $10 billion in the Taiwanese semiconductor ecosystem.
While Taiwan emerges as an integrated hub capable of chip design, manufacturing, packaging and server production, concerns are growing that Korea’s role is becoming limited to supplying memory products, such as high bandwidth memory, or HBM.
“Taiwan is the only country in East Asia with an integrated infrastructure that spans the entire AI value chain,” a semiconductor industry representative said.
Against that backdrop, attention is focused on whether Huang’s upcoming visit could lead to new investment and partnership opportunities for Korean companies.
Huang is expected to visit Korea after attending GTC Taipei 2026, Nvidia’s annual AI conference scheduled to run from Monday through Thursday in Taipei.
The trip will mark his first visit to Korea in seven months since the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in October of last year. During that visit, Huang drew attention after meeting Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung for fried chicken at Samseong-dong in southern Seoul.
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung share fried chicken and beer on Oct. 30, 2025. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/05/29/95c3798c-eb54-4f3a-928b-561397d8ad02.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung share fried chicken and beer on Oct. 30, 2025. [NEWS1]
For his upcoming visit, Huang is reportedly expected to meet LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo to discuss expanding cooperation in physical AI.
The possibility of a series of meetings with major Korean business leaders, including Lee, Chung and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, has also been raised. Huang is also expected to meet with companies, including Naver, to discuss AI partnerships.
“Huang has never disclosed a specific direct investment plan for Korea, unlike the plans he announced for Taiwan, so attention is focused on what level of investment and partnership initiatives he may discuss during the visit,” an industry representative said.
Experts say Korean companies need to move more quickly into next-generation markets such as AI memory.
The market share of China’s chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies in the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) market was 8 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research. The figure rose from its 3 percent market share in the first quarter of 2025.
The gain was driven by growing adoption of domestically produced commodity DRAM in China, aided by the company’s competitive pricing.
The company is also preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). ChangXin Memory Technologies plans to raise 29.5 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) through the IPO.
“If Korea fails to strengthen innovation in not only AI memory but also its competitiveness in fabless chip design and foundry manufacturing, it could fall behind,” said Kim Yong-seok, a professor at Gachon University's College of Semiconductor.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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