"Many meetings are scheduled with companies including Samsung, SK (034730), and LG (003550). I have brought a great deal of business for Korea, and a surprise gift is also prepared."
The key phrase running through the visit of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who returned to Korea on Friday after about seven months, is "expansion of the AI alliance." Analysts say Huang's wide-ranging activities, which continue through Sunday, go beyond inspecting the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply chain for graphics processing units (GPUs). His trip represents a strategic move to meet everyone from large conglomerates to game companies and startups, building a vast infrastructure partnership that spans Korean industry and the entire next-generation AI ecosystem.
A dinner between major group chairmen and Huang at a samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) restaurant near Hongik University in Seoul on the first evening of his visit marked the starting point of these activities. The gathering, attended by SK Group Chairman Tae-won Choi, LG Group Chairman Kwang-mo Koo, and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin, appeared on the surface to be a relaxed social occasion. In reality, analysts say, it was underpinned by Nvidia's thorough calculations to dominate future AI infrastructure.
Huang said the purpose of this visit was "mainly to coordinate the supply chain." This signals that the cooperation has grown beyond the past arrangement focused merely on semiconductor chip supply, expanding into an all-encompassing AI infrastructure alliance to jointly solve the power and heat challenges of explosively growing AI data centers.
Using supply chain stability as a foothold, Nvidia's ultimate goal is to gain an early lead in the physical AI and digital twin ecosystem. Physical AI is a next-generation technology that links data in virtual space with physical equipment or robots in the real world, enabling them to learn and move on their own. Nvidia is investing heavily in AI factories that virtually replicate the entire process from factory design to production and logistics through its 3D simulation platform, Omniverse.
As Huang lavished praise immediately after arriving, saying "Korea has outstanding AI and robotics expertise and is a world-class manufacturing hub," Korea, with its world-leading manufacturing portfolio in semiconductors, automobiles, and batteries, has emerged as Nvidia's ideal partner.
First, the urgent task of AI data center infrastructure is expected to be addressed through close ties with the SK and LG groups that met him that day. With SK Group, the partnership is expected to extend beyond joint development of custom memory to securing an early lead in an ecosystem that combines AI data centers and communications infrastructure, as well as strengthening an AI factory partnership.
LG Group is seen as the relief pitcher to tackle heat generation and power consumption, the chronic limitations of data centers. LG Electronics' (066570) high-efficiency chiller (heating and air-conditioning) systems, essential for driving high-performance accelerators, and LG Energy Solution's energy storage systems (ESS) are seen as solving the bottlenecks in AI data center construction.
Building the virtual environment in which AI can safely learn before physical infrastructure operates is expected to involve cooperation with Naver and major game companies. Naver is considered the optimal partner for building sovereign AI infrastructure that reflects each country's language and culture. The participation of game companies such as Krafton and NCsoft is also organically connected. For AI to perfectly control the real world, it must go through countless simulations in the virtual world, and the 3D visualization technology and real-time engine capabilities these companies have accumulated over long periods of running large games become powerful validation tools.
Physical AI, the channel through which AI that has completed its learning in virtual space emerges into reality, is expected to be fleshed out through meetings with Doosan (000150) Chairman Park Jeong-won and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Euisun Chung, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Huang made clear that his investment interest lies in robots, saying, "Korea has both excellent manufacturing and mechatronics and AI, and the fusion of all these technologies is precisely perfect robotics." This is the background to analyses that the ceremonial pitch and bat he will showcase with Chairman Park at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on Saturday symbolize the robotics alliance between Doosan Robotics (454910) and Nvidia.
At the meeting between Chairman Chung and Huang on Sunday, a roadmap is expected to be detailed for building a $3 billion Nvidia AI technology center and a physical AI application center encompassing autonomous driving and smart factories. Huang's remark that day that "we have begun recruiting for a Korea research and development (R&D) center" is interpreted as referring to these facilities.
In particular, attention is drawn to a proposed plan to build these centers in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, which Hyundai Motor (005380) Group plans to develop into an advanced hub for AI, hydrogen, and robots with a 9 trillion won investment. Major future mobility issues, such as the review of adopting the next-generation autonomous driving AI model Alpamayo and the advancement of Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas, are expected to be finalized.
Huang's final schedule on Sunday — a closed-door meeting with promising domestic startups such as Upstage and Nota — is seen as a "lock-in strategy" for the ecosystem. The move is intended to tie robot and AI startups that will become future leaders to Nvidia's software ecosystem.
A senior business community official expressed hope, saying, "For Nvidia to cement its leadership in next-generation AI, it desperately needs allies that will continuously provide massive power infrastructure and advanced manufacturing data. Starting from this visit, the status of Korean companies will be elevated beyond mere parts suppliers to key partners that jointly draw the blueprint of the global AI ecosystem."
