Nvidia's Jensen Huang to meet Korean executives this week

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a speech during an all employee celebration at the construction site of their Taiwan headquarters "Constellation"¨ in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, May 27. AP-Yonhap

Jensen Huang, chief executive officer (CEO) of U.S. chip giant Nvidia, is expected to visit Korea this week and meet with the heads of major conglomerates that could pave the way for broader cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, industry sources said Monday.

Following his appearance at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Huang is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Thursday night and begin a series of meetings Friday, the sources said.

Among those expected to attend the gathering are SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Lee Hae-jin, founder and board chair of Naver, they said. Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun is also positively considering taking part in the discussions.

Industry observers say the upcoming talks could move beyond AI semiconductor cooperation to include robotics and physical AI, an emerging field focused on integrating AI with real-world machines and systems.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is not expected to attend due to his overseas schedule, the sources said.

Naver and Nvidia are said to be in discussions so Hwang can visit Naver 1784, the company's second office building, possibly next Monday, according to the sources.

The 28-story building, located in Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul, is considered a test bed for Naver's technologies, including robots, cloud and 5G networks.

AMD's Lisa Su had previously visited the building in March and signed a memorandum of understanding with Naver on AI infrastructure-related partnerships.

The Nvidia chief's trip to Seoul comes about seven months after his previous visit to Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in the southeastern city of Gyeongju.

During that visit, Huang drew widespread attention when he joined Lee and Chung for a late-night meal of Korean fried chicken and beer, commonly known as "chimaek."