Jensen Huang's four-day visit to Seoul earlier this month was as colorful and thrilling as that of a rock superstar. Wearing his trademark black leather jacket, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA — the darling of the ongoing AI revolution — appeared on a popular TV reality show, threw the first pitch at a professional baseball game and visited a PC cafe to meet pro e-gamers. The 63-year-old tech tycoon also met Korean business leaders, casually sharing beer and soju over chicken and grilled pork belly. Long accustomed to rather bland and low-key local executives, Koreans were pleasantly surprised by this unconventionally dynamic yet approachable tech icon. Wherever Huang went, enthusiastic crowds gathered to cheer him on.
In fact, Jensen Huang's casual exchanges and charismatic showmanship are not unrelated to his company's exponential growth. Founded in 1993 as a small designer for graphics chips, NVIDIA has grown into the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, with market capitalization exceeding $5 trillion, spearheading AI innovation. The Graphics Processing Unit, which NVIDIA pioneered and remains the most critical hardware for AI, is of course the central driver of this success.
Yet the company has also benefited from Huang's personal brand power. His ability to engage deeply with partners, investors and customers has become a strategic asset for NVIDIA. Rather than remaining a distant tech billionaire aloof from the real world, he prefers to mingle freely, without excessive formality or protocol. His communication style is equally notable. A natural storyteller, he can explain complex technical concepts in accessible terms, enabling even non-experts to grasp the significance of AI and digital technologies. As a result, NVIDIA has built a brand not merely as a chipmaker, but as a company shaping the future of human technology.
Huang's charismatic style is often compared with that of other tech pioneers such as Steve Jobs of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX. His black leather jacket, for example, evokes Jobs' turtleneck and Zuckerberg's hoodie — each a symbol of Silicon Valley's resistance to the formal, suit-and-tie culture of the traditional business establishment. These leaders are also powerful communicators who inspire audiences with compelling narratives, turning them into loyal users, investors and advocates.
Yet as an immigrant from Taiwan, Huang differs in meaningful ways. Unlike many of his Western counterparts, he appears to place particular emphasis on personal relationships in business — an approach that resonates strongly in Korea and China. His close ties with Korean business leaders have, in fact, contributed to tightly knit partnerships. NVIDIA relies heavily on SK hynix and Samsung Electronics for high-bandwidth memory, a critical component for GPUs. At the same time, Huang's relationships with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong seem to extend beyond business into a more personal realm. Sharing meals and drinks together, Huang has even referred to them as his "gganbu," a Korean term for close friends.
Despite the camaraderie, Korean business leaders differ from Huang in several respects. Figures like Chey and Lee are not widely known for expressive social engagement or physical warmth. They tend to maintain a more reserved public presence, rarely speaking openly or interacting informally with the broader public. Unlike Huang and some Western executives, they are often cautious about making bold statements or displaying personal emotion. Typically dressed in suits and ties, they appear to favor formality and authority over casualness and intimacy.
There are, of course, understandable reasons for this contrast. Unlike Huang, Musk or Zuckerberg, many Korean conglomerate leaders are successors rather than founders — third- or fourth-generation family members shaped by a rigid, patriarchal corporate culture. They have been trained to maintain a low profile, where standing out is often seen as a liability rather than a strength. Given the long-standing public scrutiny surrounding issues such as corruption and nepotism, they tend to adopt a cautious approach in public settings. This defensive style has persisted even as corporate governance has improved.
Encouragingly, change is underway — slowly but steadily. Samsung's Lee, for instance, recently surprised many by eating street food at a local market. SK's Chey and other CEOs actively use social media to engage with the public. A new generation of leaders is also emerging: founders of companies such as Naver, Kakao and NCSoft tend to be more open and approachable than traditional successors.
Of course, projecting a personal aura and charisma cannot compensate for weak business fundamentals. NVIDIA would not have succeeded without developing the core technologies underpinning AI, regardless of how often Huang wore his leather jacket. Apple would not have risen to global prominence if the iPhone had failed to deliver, despite Steve Jobs' captivating presentations. In that sense, Korea's technology companies already possess world-class capabilities admired by global investors and consumers. What they need, however, are leaders who can engage, communicate and inspire — much like Jensen Huang.
Lee Byung-jong
Lee Byung-jong is a former Seoul correspondent for Newsweek, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News. He is a professor at the School of Global Service at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. -- Ed.
khnews@heraldcorp.com