The recent five-day, four-night visit to South Korea by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is delivering an unexpected jolt to Japan's information technology (IT) industry. Huang visited Taiwan and South Korea in succession and announced large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation projects, but he did not visit Japan. Japanese media are interpreting this not as a simple business itinerary but as a symbolic scene illustrating Japan's standing in the AI era.
"Korea a Partner, Japan a Customer?"
On Monday, Japanese media outlets including Nikkei reported that Huang, who recently met with TSMC and Foxconn executives in Taiwan, traveled to South Korea for a series of meetings with SK Group Chairman Tae-won Choi, LG Group Chairman Kwang-mo Koo, and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin.
In particular, they reported that "in South Korea, the discussions went beyond simple business meetings to encompass cooperation across the entire AI industry," with concrete joint business plans announced in succession spanning semiconductors, data centers, AI infrastructure, and robotics.
Nvidia and SK Group announced plans to build an AI factory by 2027 and jointly develop next-generation memory semiconductors. SK hynix decided to expand its cooperation with Nvidia beyond HBM supply to include AI-based semiconductor design and production automation.
Naver also unveiled plans to build a large-scale AI data center, while LG, Hyundai Motor, and Doosan are pursuing cooperation in robotics and physical AI.
This is precisely what Japanese media took note of: that Korean companies are positioning themselves as "strategic partners" who design the AI era together, rather than simply supplying components as in the past.
One Japanese IT official told local media, "Recently, American AI companies have been visiting Japan, but in many cases they view it as a market to sell services rather than as a joint development partner."
Jensen Huang Stayed in Korea for Five Days
Huang's activities also heightened Japan's sense of crisis. During his stay in South Korea, he not only met with corporate chiefs but also held a dinner of pork belly and soju at a restaurant in Hongdae, and actively communicated with the public by handing out banana milk to citizens, which drew attention.
He also threw the ceremonial first pitch at a professional baseball game and participated in the recording of an entertainment program. At Seoul National University, he personally gave autographs to students, signaling that Nvidia is also moving to secure talent for the research and development (R&D) center it is pursuing in South Korea.
In response, Japanese media assessed that "Huang is carving out time to increase his points of contact with South Korea."
They also analyzed that "AI semiconductor production is handled by Taiwan's TSMC, while HBM, the core memory, is handled by SK hynix and Samsung Electronics," adding that "as the central axis of the AI supply chain is being formed around South Korea and Taiwan, Nvidia is naturally devoting its efforts to these countries as well."
The Warning Posed by 'Japan Passing'
During the past smartphone revolution, Japan seized growth opportunities by being incorporated into Apple's ecosystem through component companies such as Sony, TDK, Murata Manufacturing, and Kioxia.
But the situation is different in the AI revolution. Nikkei pointed out, "How many AI companies does Japan now have that Jensen Huang would personally make time to visit and want to discuss innovation with?"
In fact, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has forecast that the "digital deficit" caused by rising digital service imports could expand to 18 trillion yen by 2035.
This is why Japanese media are treating Huang's visit to South Korea so prominently. It is not simply because South Korea drew attention, but because of a sense of crisis that Japan is gradually drifting away from the center of the AI revolution.
Nikkei assessed that "whether Japan will remain a customer of leading companies like Nvidia in the AI era, or leap forward as a true partner, will be an important task that determines the future of the Japanese economy."
Why Were There No Japanese Companies?
In truth, Japan's sense of crisis had been building even before this visit to South Korea. There is an assessment that a glimpse of it was laid bare at the Nvidia GTC 2026 event held in March this year.
At that time, Huang unveiled 103 "AI native companies" that will lead the AI era. They included a large number of American, European, and Chinese companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Mistral AI, and Cohere.
But not a single Japanese company made the list.
Japan's business community sees this not as mere coincidence but as a structural problem. Japan has almost no large language model (LLM) companies capable of competing in the global market, and its AI startup ecosystem is also assessed to lag far behind those of the United States and China.
It is pointed out that Japan's presence is also weakening in the competition for AI data center investment, computing infrastructure, and global talent.
With the AI industry emerging as a key industry that determines national competitiveness beyond semiconductors, concerns are growing that Japan could be pushed to the margins as a consumer market rather than the center of innovation.
