Nvidia's Huang cozies up to Korean tech chiefs at Computex with eye on deeper AI ties
Published: 02 Jun. 2026, 19:03
Updated: 02 Jun. 2026, 19:56
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, drinks a glass of beer with his arms entwined with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, and Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Euisun Chung during a casual dinner of "chimaek" (fried chicken and beer) in southern Seoul on Oct. 30. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/06/02/8f0b7f43-f99b-41ca-b469-ae1bd4875427.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, drinks a glass of beer with his arms entwined with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, and Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Euisun Chung during a casual dinner of "chimaek" (fried chicken and beer) in southern Seoul on Oct. 30. [YONHAP]
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is holding a string of meetings with Korean companies on the sidelines of Computex 2026, Taiwan's largest information technology show, in what analysts read as a sign that the chipmaker — which sets the tone in the global AI market — has tapped Korea as a core partner as it prepares to build its next-generation AI ecosystem.
SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won held a separate meeting in Taiwan on Monday, according to SK hynix on Tuesday.
"It was a gathering arranged to mark SK hynix reaching a market capitalization of $1 trillion," the company said. "We reflected on the overwhelming results we have achieved together in AI memory and reaffirmed our resolve to open a new horizon for AI infrastructure."
After meeting Chey, Huang attended a dinner, called the Korea Partner Night, the first event Nvidia has hosted exclusively for Korean companies during Computex.
More than 30 representatives turned out, not only from chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix but also from LG, Doosan Robotics, Naver Cloud and AI startups.
Huang engaged closely with Korean executives throughout the roughly two-hour dinner and discussed technology cooperation in depth, according to people familiar with the event.
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang signed an HBM4E wafer, a next-generation high-bandwidth memory product, at SK hynix's booth during Computex 2026 at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 2. [SK HYNIX]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/06/02/cd083f67-311e-4aa5-ad5a-27b3680f1e0b.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang signed an HBM4E wafer, a next-generation high-bandwidth memory product, at SK hynix's booth during Computex 2026 at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 2. [SK HYNIX]
"Korea is a critical part of our ecosystem," Huang told reporters that day. "There's a lot we need to do together, including chips, DRAM [dynamic random-access memory], science, robotics and AI factories."
"We always consider investments in Korea," he said. "Really smart companies; very technical."
Huang also said he hoped to be able to "contribute to robotics in Korea."
Nvidia's heavy courting of Korean firms is linked directly to where it sees the next AI ecosystem heading: the world of robots.
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in Taipei [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/06/02/2c3f5c5f-14c6-4213-8160-a6b86eb60f86.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, left, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in Taipei [SCREEN CAPTURE]
The next stage Huang envisions is the mainstream adoption of "physical AI," in which AI software operates in the physical spaces where people live and work, from self-driving cars to factory floors and humanoid robots deployed across industry and daily life.
That makes Korea's strong manufacturing base essential. However capable the "brain" of software may be, physical AI is impossible without a "body" of hardware to carry it out.
Korea has a world-class hardware value chain spanning ultrahigh-performance memory chips from Samsung and SK as well as automobiles from Hyundai Motor, home appliances from LG and robots from Doosan. Naver Cloud has also emerged as a platform partner to embed AI models on the ground, agreeing to jointly build next-generation AI infrastructure with Nvidia.
Huang's courtship of Korea is expected to take firmer shape during his visit to the country, set for Thursday.
He is expected to meet with Chey, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver founder and board chairman Lee Hae-jin in the Seongsu-dong neighborhood of eastern Seoul to follow up on what Korean media started calling a kkanbu meetup last year with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung — referring both to a Korean word that can be translated as “buddy” and the name of the fried chicken franchise where the trio ate fried chicken and drank beer together in the Samseong-dong area of southern Seoul.
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, center, poses for photos with attendees during Computex in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 2, 2026. [AFP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/06/02/3dbf8d54-a364-42f0-9cda-6d65fed60e13.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, center, poses for photos with attendees during Computex in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 2, 2026. [AFP/YONHAP]
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung is also said to be weighing whether to attend.
Huang is said to have told reporters that he will probably eat chicken, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) while in Korea.
"His return to Korea after just seven months shows how much more dependent Nvidia has become on Korea," Kim Dong-won, the head of research at KB Securities, wrote in a report published on Monday.
He forecast that Nvidia would aim to expand the physical AI ecosystem, secure a stable supply of memory chips and lock in reliable supplies of core AI infrastructure components such as substrates and multilayered ceramic capacitors, also known as MLCC.
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 YI WOO-LIM, KANG KWANG-WOO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)