Korean tech leaders discuss cooperation with Nvidia at COMPUTEX 2026

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers his first keynote speech at GTC Taipei 2026 in Taipei, Monday. AFP-Yonhap

Korea's leading technology conglomerates are scrambling to enhance their ties with Nvidia, with top executives attending COMPUTEX 2026 and GTC Taipei 2026, an Nvidia event held alongside the trade show, to meet with its CEO, Jensen Huang, and discuss expanded cooperation in semiconductors and physical artificial intelligence (AI).

The executives joined a private networking dinner, dubbed Korea Partner Night, at a Taipei restaurant Monday evening, with senior leadership from Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, LG Electronics and Naver participated. Participating leaders included Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President of Memory Business Kim Jae-june, SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung, LG Sciencepark CEO Chung Sue-hyun and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yoo-won. Reportedly, a number of heads of physical and robotics startups from Korea also joined the event.

It was the first time Nvidia has organized a dedicated networking event exclusively for Korean partners during COMPUTEX.

Discussions are expected to focus on the adoption of Nvidia's physical AI platforms, Omniverse and Isaac, across the Korean industry.

The meeting signals a deepening of ties that first gained widespread attention in October last year when Huang had a high-profile dinner at a fried chicken restaurant in Seoul with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, center, attends the keynote address of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during GTC Taipei 2026 in Taiwan, Monday. Courtesy of SK hynix

The head of SK Group attended Huang's keynote address on Monday at Nvidia's GTC Taipei forum where the latter unveiled a next-generation AI computing platform, Vera Rubin.

Huang confirmed that Vera Rubin has entered full-scale mass production, disclosing that the accelerator integrates high-bandwidth memory (HBM) 4 chips supplied by Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron.

Given that both Samsung and SK hynix are principal suppliers of HBM chips to Nvidia, industry officials are watching closely for any announcement of new collaborative frameworks between the chip designer and its Korean memory partners. Chey and Huang have met previously on multiple occasions, including a joint visit to SK hynix's booth at Nvidia's GTC conference in the United States in March.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduces the Vera Rubin platform during his first keynote speech at GTC Taipei 2026 in Taipei, Monday. AFP-Yonhap

Korea's semiconductor and display manufacturers are also expanding a significant presence on the COMPUTEX exhibition floor. Samsung Electronics has set up a dedicated booth showcasing its seventh-generation HBM4E memory — samples of which began shipping recently — along with its latest enterprise solid-state drives. SK hynix is also making its first public unveiling of a physical HBM4E unit at the show.

On the display side, Samsung Display is presenting next-generation OLED technology optimized for gaming laptops, while LG Display is demonstrating a solution enabling smooth high-refresh-rate content playback without the need for premium discrete graphics cards.

The concentrated presence of Korean corporate leadership at COMPUTEX underscores the strategic importance both sides place on the partnership.

"As global demand for AI infrastructure accelerates, Korea's memory chipmakers find themselves at the center of the supply chain powering the world's most advanced AI systems — a position that gives Seoul's technology executives considerable leverage as they seek to lock in long-term agreements with global AI hardware makers," a tech industry official said.