Published: 09:52 AM, 06 June 2026
'Robotics is South Korea's next big sector'
Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab CEO Jensen Huang on Friday said robotics will be South Korea's next major sector, as he arrived for his second visit in seven months, underscoring deepening ties with local firms in not only chips but also robotics and AI factories.
South Korea is an Asian manufacturing powerhouse - home to major manufacturers of chips, electronics, cars and ships. After landing at Gimpo International Airport on a flight from Taiwan, Huang told reporters that chip manufacturing will be increasingly driven by AI and robotics.
"Because Korea is a manufacturing centre of the ?world, we can apply the robotics technology, the physical AI technology that we invent here for the industry," he said. "So we have a great opportunity to partner with the semiconductor companies here as well."
Huang said he had meetings scheduled with Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), opens new tab, LG (003550.KS), opens new tab, SK Hynix (000660.KS), opens new tab, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab and Naver (035420.KS), opens new tab during his trip.
"Did I bring any gifts for Korea? I brought a lot of business for Korea," he said. "I have some surprises."
KOREAN BARBECUE
In his first stop, the Nvidia boss visited an internet cafe in Seoul and met with e-sports players, including gaming superstar Lee Sang-hyeok, known as "Faker." His daughter Madison Huang accompanied him during the visit, wearing a uniform of the renowned T1 e-sports team.
Huang then had Korean barbecue and drinks in the evening at a restaurant in Seoul with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.
"We are all booming," Huang told the crowd during the dinner, referring to his partners, such as Samsung, SK Hynix, Naver and Hyundai Motor. "My friends here had a very good year, but this is just the beginning," he said, adding that Nvidia's new products would use a lot of memory chips.
He handed out bags of chocolate-coated corn chips that were emblazoned with "HBM Chips" - after the high-bandwidth memory produced by SK Hynix for Nvidia's AI chipsets - prompting the crowd to ?chant "HBM!"
>>Reuters
