NVIDIA CEO’s October Visit to South Korea Sparked a Surge of AI Tech Partnerships
NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang arrived in Seoul in late October, and his visit quickly became one of the most closely watched moments of the APEC week. Between a keynote at the APEC CEO Summit, meetings with Korea’s most powerful business leaders, and a surprise fried chicken-and-soju moment that delighted Korean media, Huang’s trip carried significance far beyond simple corporate outreach. The goal was to establish partnerships that would develop the physical infrastructure and industrial platforms that would shape the global AI economy.
His schedule reflected a strategic turn in the U.S.-Korea relationship, coming just after Washington and Seoul pledged to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence and semiconductor security. Korea sees an opportunity to shape the next industrial era, moving from a global manufacturing powerhouse to a leader in intelligent production.
During Huang’s visit, NVIDIA and Korea announced plans to deploy over 260,000 NVIDIA GPUs across the country’s AI infrastructure, including sovereign clouds, national research centers, and industrial “AI factories” built in partnership with South Korea’s major conglomerates. A key collaborator is Samsung Electronics, which announced a deal with NVIDIA to build an “AI megafactory” that would bring substantial computing power to chip design, robotics, and digital twin manufacturing systems. Hyundai Motor Group followed with a plan to apply AI into mobility, robotics, and smart factories. SK Group and NAVER committed to expanding domestic cloud capacity and developing Korea-tailored AI models. The Korean government has committed to backing these efforts with the deployment of tens of thousands of high-performance GPUs and research infrastructure.
For NVIDIA, the pivot toward Korea strengthens its position in a trusted market at a time when access to China remains limited and global demand for AI computing continues to accelerate. For Korea, it marks a bid to lead in the emerging era of “physical AI,” where factories, vehicles, and supply chains become intelligent systems rather than mechanical ones.
The public loved the symbolism as much as the substance. Photos of Huang enjoying Korea’s iconic chi-maek (fried chicken and beer) with Samsung and Hyundai leadership went viral, capturing a blend of industrial ambition and cultural ease. In a country that marries cutting-edge tech with confident soft power, the moment felt on brand. Korea already dominates shipping, chips, batteries, and advanced manufacturing and, after Huang’s visit, it is increasingly clear that the country intends to add AI-driven industry to that list.
This article was written for The Sejong Society of Washington, D.C. and published on November 6, 2025, in the Sejong Society’s newsletter, Sejong Digest 2.0. You can subscribe to the newsletter here: https://thesejongsociety.org/