The photo is of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. AP = Yonhap News
On the 31st, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Hwang met with the heads of major domestic groups, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin (Chairman of the Board of Directors), to strengthen cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI).
SK Chairman Chey Tae-won and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin also attended the Gyeongju meeting on the 31st.
According to the business world on the 30th, CEO Jensen Hwang will meet with heads and executives of major AI companies, including Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Chairman Chey Tae-won, Chairman Eui-sun Chung, and Chairman Hae-jin Lee, prior to the special speech at the APEC CEO Summit held in Gyeongju on the afternoon of the 31st. It is reported that attendees will broadly discuss the direction of AI ecosystem establishment and semiconductor cooperation between NVIDIA and major domestic groups.
Bloomberg previously reported that NVIDIA signed AI semiconductor supply contracts with major domestic companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK, Hyundai Motors, and Naver, and plans to officially announce them on the 31st. This large-scale contract is expected to serve as an opportunity for Korea to emerge as a new strategic market at a time when Nvidia’s business expansion in China has become difficult due to the US-China trade conflict. Large Korean companies will also be able to secure stable graphics processing units (GPUs), which are essential for AI model learning and operation. At the NVIDIA conference held on the 28th (local time), CEO Hwang said, “All companies in the Korean industrial ecosystem are deep friends and very good partners,” and suggested, “When I visit Korea, there will be an announcement that will really make the people happy.”
This meeting is interpreted as an extension of the ‘chicken and beer meeting’ held on the afternoon of the 30th. This afternoon, CEO Hwang plans to meet with Chairman Lee and Chairman Chung at ‘Kkanbu Chicken’, a chicken restaurant in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. This means that CEO Hwang will meet with the heads of major companies for two consecutive days until the next day. A business official said, “This meeting is expected to serve as an opportunity to materialize the individual cooperation so far into an all-out ‘AI alliance.’”
