First visit in 8 months
First stop: meeting pro gamer 'Faker' at a PC bang
Dinner with Chey Tae-won, Koo Kwang-mo and Lee Hae-jin at Hongdae samgyeopsal restaurant
AI alliance expands beyond Naver to NCsoft and Krafton
Every move expected to draw attention throughout 4-day visit
![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to meet SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver board chairman Lee Hae-jin for an evening dinner near Hongdae in Seoul on Friday. [Getty Images, SK, LG, Herald DB]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/05/news-p.v1.20260605.2452da27c7814384b82e4ddfbaa13fdf_P1.png)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in South Korea on Friday through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo-gu, kicking off his second round of "AI alliance" meetings with Korean companies.
His packed schedule includes a Friday-night samgyeopsal dinner with the country's top business leaders, followed by a relay of meetings with game industry CEOs, AI and robotics startups, and students at Seoul National University.
Huang has also teased a ceremonial first pitch at a professional baseball game and an appearance on a television entertainment program. His every move is expected to generate buzz across industry, culture and sports throughout the four-day visit.
Particular attention has fallen on his first official engagement: a visit to a PC bang in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to meet pro gamer Lee Sang-hyeok, better known by his handle "Faker." The meeting carries symbolic weight — in the mid-1990s, before Nvidia became a global powerhouse, Huang famously walked the stalls of Seoul's Yongsan Electronics Market promoting the company's graphics cards.
Huang has said that "without PC bangs and esports, today's Nvidia would not exist," underscoring his long-standing affection for Korean PC bang culture. His meeting with Faker — the defining icon of Korean esports — is expected to put that affection on display once again.
SK and LG chiefs join Huang for samgyeopsal and soju in Hongdae
Huang flew directly to Korea after completing his appearances at GTC Taipei 2026 and Computex 2026 in Taipei, Taiwan, according to business circles Friday.
After meeting Faker, Huang will sit down for dinner at "Hyeongnim Jeoyo," a samgyeopsal restaurant near Hongik University, with some of Korea's most powerful corporate chiefs. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver board chairman Lee Hae-jin are all expected to attend. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung was in last-minute discussions over whether to join.
The gathering comes roughly eight months after Huang's so-called "Kkanbu dinner" last October, when he met Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Euisun Chung at a fried chicken restaurant in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu.
Business circles have taken note of the unusual sight of top-tier executives converging on Hongdae on a Friday evening — an area that draws large crowds even on ordinary days.
The prospect of Huang and Korea's chaebol chiefs mingling with ordinary Seoulites over samgyeopsal and soju has already generated more anticipation than last year's Kkanbu dinner.
Chey, who held a separate meeting with Huang in Taiwan, is expected to continue discussions on the AI partnership between SK Hynix and Nvidia when the two meet again in Seoul.
Koo's 'AX drive': LG looks to deepen AI, robotics and cooling ties with Nvidia
Business circles are paying particular attention to Koo Kwang-mo, who will be sitting down with Huang in a public setting for the first time. Senior executives from major LG Group affiliates will join Koo for a business meeting with Huang at LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, on June 8, where the two sides plan to flesh out cooperation in AI, robotics and cooling systems.
Koo has consistently told his organization that "AI transformation — AX — is not a task for any single unit; it is something the CEO and business heads must personally steer," pushing for swift execution of the group's AX agenda.
As part of that push, LG has been rapidly expanding its touchpoints with Nvidia. The LG AI Research institute, a project Koo holds particularly dear, met with Nvidia on May 22 and pledged wide-ranging cooperation — including developing specialized AI models by combining LG's proprietary AI model "Exaone" with Nvidia's open-source model "Nemotron."
Huang spotlighted LG Electronics' home-service robot "Cloi'd" during keynote addresses at CES 2026 in January and GTC 2026 in March, citing it as an example of robotics powered by Nvidia technology. Jung Soo-heon, executive vice president and CEO of LG Science Park, attended Nvidia's Korea Partner Night in Taipei on June 1.
LG Electronics, which is investing heavily in cooling systems for AI data centers, is also working through Nvidia's certification process for its liquid-cooling solutions for AI servers as it seeks entry into the Nvidia supply chain.
Cloud and gaming alliances expand from Naver to Korean game developers
![Naver board chairman Lee Hae-jin (left), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon met at Nvidia's headquarters in California in June 2024. [Naver]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/05/news-p.v1.20260605.2952552733ca498bb3ec0399424cf71f_P1.jpg)
When Naver board chairman Lee Hae-jin sits down with Huang, the agenda is expected to cover sovereign AI, global AI factories, physical AI, cloud and digital twins. Concrete cooperation outcomes will be announced June 8, when Huang visits Naver's second headquarters, 1784, in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
According to Naver, Naver Cloud plans to use Nvidia's open large language model "Nemotron 3 Ultra" to advance its HyperCLOVA X model. The two companies will also collaborate on optimizing large language models and foundational technology research.
At his GTC Taipei 2026 keynote, Huang introduced Naver Cloud as an "AI-native cloud partner," underscoring the close relationship between the two companies.
In March, Naver Cloud unveiled a "Seoul World Model" — a digital reconstruction of Seoul's actual road environment and spatial layout built using Nvidia's Cosmos platform. Naver Cloud intends to leverage its full-stack technology and dedicated cloud capabilities to support the development of sovereign AI models tailored to individual regions.
Huang's meetings with Korean game companies are another highlight of the visit. On Sunday, he will meet Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu and NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin in back-to-back sessions.
Gaming collaboration built around Nvidia's recently unveiled AI PC brand "RTX Spark" is expected to top the agenda. The two sides are also likely to explore using virtual game environments as test beds for Nvidia's AI technologies, including physical AI and humanoid robots.
Senior Krafton executives visited Nvidia's California headquarters in April last year to discuss next-generation technology cooperation, including robotics. The upcoming meeting is expected to produce more concrete plans.
NCsoft is expected to expand its collaboration with Nvidia in physical AI, particularly in object simulation. The company is pursuing physical AI as a future business through its subsidiary NC AI, and is expected to focus on cooperation with Nvidia's robotics and digital twin platform.
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