By Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) -Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met the chiefs of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor during his first official visit in more than a decade to South Korea on Thursday, highlighting the company’s deepening AI ties with its tech and auto industries.
The technology tycoon, whose company is caught in the cross-hairs of a U.S.-China trade war, said he was looking forward to meeting President Lee Jae Myung on Friday and that Nvidia and South Korea had many announcements to make.
Huang also said he was confident that earlier talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea had gone well.
In a reversal of remarks on Wednesday, Trump said he did not discuss Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chip with Xi. Sales of the high-end chip have been a major sticking point between the Washington and Beijing due to U.S. export controls.
“I have every confidence that the two presidents had a very good conversation. It doesn’t have to involve anything that I do,” said Huang.
Huang met Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung over fried chicken and beer, a popular Korean after-work pairing known as “chimaek”, at Kkanbu Chicken, a local restaurant chain in Gangnam, an upscale part of Seoul.
The word “kkanbu” translates loosely to “close friend” or “trusted partner”, a bond made famous globally by Netflix’s “Squid Game”, in which it symbolizes loyalty between allies.
‘TO OUR PARTNERSHIP AND FUTURE OF THE WORLD’
Hundreds of people, including media, had swarmed the area around the restaurant, eager to get a glimpse of Huang, whose tech giant has become the world’s first $5 trillion company and who is known for mingling with fans and posing for selfies.
Huang, dressed in a black T-shirt and dark trousers, emerged from the restaurant and handed baskets of chicken and fried cheese to those gathered gathered outside.
The meeting of the tech executives comes ahead of an expected announcement by Huang, involving potential deals with South Korean companies that he said would “please U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea”.
Huang gave an AI computer to Lee and Chung with a note on each box reading: “To our partnership and future of the world”.
The three executives linked arms as they raised their glasses in a toast known in South Korea as a “love shot,” symbolising friendship and trust.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, Joe Bavier and Alexander Smith)
