Why it matters. Nvidia depends on Korean firms for the memory chips that make its AI processors work, so Huang's relationships with these tycoons shape the global AI hardware supply chain. The visit signals how tightly the world's most valuable chip company is binding itself to Korean manufacturing.
Background. South Korea's economy is dominated by family-controlled conglomerates called chaebol — SK, Hyundai, LG and Samsung among them — whose chairmen wield enormous influence. Informal dinners over samgyeopsal and somaek are a cultural staple of Korean dealmaking, signaling personal trust rather than mere business; the 'gganbu' label references a Korean term for trusted partners popularized worldwide by Squid Game.
What to watch next. Watch for concrete supply agreements on HBM4 memory and the Vera Rubin chip, plus new physical-AI and robotics deals with Hyundai, LG and Doosan.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will arrive in South Korea on the evening of June 4, 2026, for a packed multi-day visit headlined by a casual dinner with the heads of the country’s largest conglomerates, as the AI chipmaker deepens its semiconductor and robotics ties with Korean industry.
According to industry sources cited by the Korean daily Hankyoreh, Huang is flying in directly from Computex 2026, the major IT trade show in Taipei, Taiwan. It is his first trip to Korea in roughly eight months, following his October 2025 appearance at the APEC CEO Summit.
A Dinner of Pork Belly and ‘Somaek’
The most talked-about item on Huang’s itinerary is a June 5 evening gathering at a samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) restaurant in Seoul’s trendy Seongsu district. He is expected to share somaek — a popular Korean mix of soju (a clear distilled spirit) and beer — with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.
The setting echoes a widely covered 2023 dinner that local media dubbed the “gganbu meeting,” using a Korean word for close-knit partners that gained global fame through the Netflix series Squid Game. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who attended that earlier gathering, is expected to miss this one due to an overseas commitment. Beyond the dinner, Huang will also meet leaders of Korean robotics and AI startups and tape an appearance on the popular tvN variety show You Quiz on the Block.
Chips, Memory and ‘Physical AI’
Behind the festivities lies a clear business message: expanding partnerships in semiconductors and so-called physical AI — artificial intelligence embodied in robots and self-driving systems. SK Hynix, an SK Group affiliate, is a core supplier of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that powers Nvidia’s chips. Chairman Chey attended Huang’s keynote in Taiwan on June 1 and held a private business meeting with him; he later pledged to double SK Hynix’s total memory production capacity within five years to meet surging AI demand. Huang visited the SK Hynix booth and left a handwritten note asking the company to make more HBM.
SK Hynix currently supplies Nvidia with sixth-generation HBM4 and low-power LPDDR5X memory, and both SK Hynix and Samsung chips are slated for Nvidia’s next-generation “Vera Rubin” AI package, due in the second half of 2026.
Robotics and mobility
Nvidia is also expected to broaden cooperation with Hyundai, LG and Doosan. Hyundai has adopted Nvidia’s “Drive Hyperion” platform for autonomous driving, while LG Electronics is building physical-AI models on Nvidia’s “Isaac GR00T” humanoid framework and expanding its home-robot line. Doosan plans to roll out industrial humanoid robots starting in 2028.
At Computex, Nvidia also unveiled Cosmos 3, a foundation model built for physical AI that the company says can simultaneously process text, images, video, ambient sound and motion data. “I think Korean robotics is very important,” Huang said at a “Korea Partner Night” dinner in Taiwan, adding that he hopes Nvidia can contribute to the country’s robotics development.
