{"slug": "why-jensen-huang-is-going-on-a-charm-offensive-in-south-korea", "title": "Why Jensen Huang is going on a charm offensive in South Korea", "summary": "Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in Seoul on Friday for his second visit in seven months, signaling South Korea's growing importance to the AI boom as the country's semiconductor exports surged nearly 170% in May. The trip follows Huang's appearance at Computex in Taiwan and includes discussions on robotics cooperation, with investors closely watching for potential partnerships that could impact South Korean chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.", "body_md": "[Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's](https://www.businessinsider.com/mrvl-marvell-stock-nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-dell-quantum-ai-2026-6) travel itinerary is becoming a guide to the biggest winners in AI. His latest stop: South Korea.\n\nThe Nvidia chief was expected to arrive in Seoul on Friday for his second visit in seven months, a sign of how central the country has become to the AI boom.\n\nThe celebrity-style schedule follows Huang's appearance at Computex in Taiwan, the global hub of advanced chip manufacturing. It also reflects a growing reality for Nvidia.\n\n\"Nvidia's dependence on Korea has deepened,\" Jeff Kim, an analyst at KB Securities, wrote in a note this week.\n\nAs one of the world's largest producers of memory chips, South Korea has emerged as a major beneficiary of the AI boom.\n\nIn May, the country's semiconductor exports surged nearly 170% to a record high, helping drive South Korea's strongest export growth in more than four decades.\n\nThe country's chip champions have also helped fuel a red-hot stock-market rally.\n\nSouth Korea's benchmark Kospi stock index has nearly doubled this year, while [ Samsung Electronics](https://www.businessinsider.com/south-korea-stock-market-samsung-1-trillion-club-ai-boom-2026-5) and\n\n[each topped $1 trillion in market value last month on the AI rush.](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-memory-chip-boom-next-trillion-dollar-company-sk-hynix-2026-5)\n\n__SK Hynix__But Huang's trip to South Korea isn't just about memory chips.\n\nAt Computex earlier this week, Huang highlighted robotics as a major area for future cooperation with South Korea.\n\nAs Nvidia increasingly looks for manufacturing partners that can help commercialize AI applications, \"Korea, which has developed large-scale manufacturing infrastructure, is emerging as an ideal testbed,\" wrote Kim.\n\nHuang's latest trip will be closely watched by investors. A website tracking his expected itinerary in South Korea has already attracted over 90,000 views as of Friday afternoon, local time.\n\nEarlier this week, [shares of LG Electronics](https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-jensen-huang-ai-trade-south-korea-samsung-lg-rally-2026-6) and Samsung Electronics jumped on reports that the Nvidia chief was headed to South Korea.\n\nDuring his last trip to Seoul in October, Huang was photographed eating [fried chicken and beer](https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-jensen-huang-nvidia-fried-chicken-samsung-hyundai-crowd-fame-2025-10) with Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Chung Euisun.\n\nThe meeting generated a wave of media coverage and helped send shares of several Korean fried chicken chains soaring by as much as 30%.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-jensen-huang-is-going-on-a-charm-offensive-in-south-korea", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-jensen-huang-south-korea-ai-trade-samsung-sk-hynix-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-05 06:15:57+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-05 06:45:46.609423+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-chips", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Jensen Huang", "Nvidia", "South Korea", "Samsung Electronics", "SK Hynix", "KB Securities", "Jeff Kim", "Computex"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-jensen-huang-is-going-on-a-charm-offensive-in-south-korea", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-jensen-huang-is-going-on-a-charm-offensive-in-south-korea.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-jensen-huang-is-going-on-a-charm-offensive-in-south-korea.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-jensen-huang-is-going-on-a-charm-offensive-in-south-korea.jsonld"}}