Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visits Seoul for robotics, AI, gaming partnerships
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang waves as he arrives at the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in western Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
AI guru hints at building here when time is ready
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited Seoul on Friday, seven months after making headlines with a fried chicken gathering with the heads of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Group that was followed by a large-scale Nvidia artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator supply across Korea.
This time, his visit is set to focus on partnerships with a broader range of Korean firms in AI applications, including robotics, physical AI, infrastructure and gaming. In addition to his business engagements, Huang is also scheduled to make a television appearance and throw a ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game, reflecting his celebritylike popularity here.
Huang arrived in Korea through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center at around 1:30 p.m., after making appearances at COMPUTEX 2026 and GTC Taipei 2026, both in Taiwan.
“I’m back because I want to thank all of my partners and customers who are here,” Huang told reporters. “I want to make sure that ... our partners are aligned and prepared.”
Huang said he has brought “a lot of business” and “some surprises” for Korea. He noted that Nvidia has already started hiring for its research and development (R&D) center in Korea, adding that he is also considering building “a site” for manufacturing.
“As soon as we have enough people here, we'll build a site,” he said. “Korea is so good at building things. I have no trouble building a beautiful site here when the time is ready.”
He said the visit is largely aimed at aligning Nvidia's supply chain, as the company needs to coordinate the production of key technologies, including dynamic random-access memory and high-bandwidth memory, to support the rollout of its Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems.
He said Korea is “an excellent place” to invest in R&D centers because of its expertise in AI, robotics and manufacturing.
“Because Korea is a manufacturing center of the world, we can apply the robotics technology, the physical AI technology that we invent here for the industry here,” he said. “The manufacturing of semiconductors will become increasingly robotics- and AI-driven in the future, so we have a great opportunity to partner with the semiconductor companies here as well.”
He noted that demand for high-speed memory is expected to remain strong. “Of course, memory is constrained and so we have to be smart about using it in all of our systems, and so we're continuing to work with our partners here to make sure that we support as much supply as possible, but use the supply as smartly as possible.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang signs a copy of his book for fans after arriving at the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in western Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
At 3 p.m., Huang is scheduled to meet League of Legends superstar Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok at T1 Base Camp PC Bang in Seoul's Mapo District.
The meeting is seen as highlighting the role that Korea's “PC bang” and esports culture played in Nvidia's growth over the past two decades. A PC bang is an internet cafe where users pay by the hour to play games, a key foundation for Korea's rise as a global esports powerhouse and a key market for graphics processing units.
After the visit, Huang will dine with some of Korea's top business leaders at Hyungnim Jeoyo, a casual pork belly barbecue restaurant near Hongik University in western Seoul. Expected attendees include SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver Chairman of the Board Lee Hae-jin. Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun is also reportedly considering joining the gathering.
The restaurant’s name, which roughly translates to “Hey big brother, over here,” is seen as carrying a symbolic message about strengthening ties with Korean business partners.
During his previous visit to Seoul, Huang met Chung and Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong at Kkanbu Chicken, whose name roughly translates to “very close friends.” At the time, Huang said the venue symbolized his friendship with the two business leaders. Upon his arrival Friday, Huang joked that he returned to Korea because he missed Korean fried chicken.
After the dinner, Huang is expected to prerecord an appearance for the popular television program “You Quiz on the Block” before holding separate meetings with NC founder Kim Taek-jin and Krafton Chairman of the Board Chang Byung-gyu over the weekend. He is also scheduled to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game between the Doosan Bears and Kiwoom Heroes on Sunday.
Next week, Huang is expected to visit the headquarters of major Korean companies, including Hyundai, LG, SK, Samsung and Naver, to discuss partnerships and meet with startups specializing in physical AI, according to industry sources.