Jensen Huang Meets Chey Tae-won Again Over Chicken and Beer in Two Days... "Cooperation Plan with SK to Be Announced Tomorrow"

Reunion with Chairman Chey Tae-won at Kkanbu Chicken
Following the "Hyungnim Meeting"

"Achieved remarkable results with SK hynix this year,
preparing for tremendous growth next year"

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, met once again for an "Kanbu meeting," following their previous "Hyungnim meeting" on the 5th, and pledged an AI alliance. CEO Huang stated that he and SK hynix are "preparing for significant growth in the second half of this year and next year," and announced that a cooperation plan would be unveiled on the 8th.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia (right in the photo), and Taewon Choi, Chairman of SK Group (far left in the photo), are having draft beer meeting on the afternoon of the 7th at Gangnam Kanbu Chicken Samsung Branch. Photo by Nvidia

On the 7th, CEO Huang and Chairman Chey had dinner at the Kanbuchicken Samsung Branch in Gangnam, Seoul. CEO Huang arrived first and responded to autograph requests from citizens, after which Chairman Chey joined him. The two exchanged a warm greeting, sat down, and toasted with draft beer. At one point, they also shared a high-five.

This meeting took place immediately after CEO Huang threw the ceremonial first pitch at the Doosan Bears game held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium earlier that day. He attended the dinner still wearing the Doosan Bears uniform from the game. As he entered the restaurant, he signed the uniform for a young citizen who requested his autograph.

This gathering with Chairman Chey drew attention as it was held only two days after their previous dinner, which took place on the 5th at a restaurant in Mapo-gu, Seoul, where they enjoyed pork belly and soju together. The dinner location was the same venue as last October's "Kanbu meeting," which garnered attention when CEO Huang met with Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Euisun Chung, Executive Chair of Hyundai Motor Group. This meeting was reportedly initiated at the suggestion of NVIDIA.

Attendees at the dinner included Kwak Nohjung, President of SK hynix; Kim Joosun, President in charge of AI infrastructure at SK hynix; Chung Jaeheon, President of SK Telecom; and Jeong Seokgeun, Head of the AI CIC and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at SK Telecom. From NVIDIA, CEO Huang's wife, Lori Huang, and their eldest daughter, Madison Huang, were also present.

On the afternoon of the 7th, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, came out of the Kanbu Chicken Samsung branch and handed out chicken to people on the street. Photo by Kim Jinyoung

CEO Huang's signature showmanship was on display again that day. In the middle of the meal, he stepped outside and handed out chicken to people on the street, saying, "It's hot, be careful." Chairman Chey then joined him in distributing chicken to citizens. Meanwhile, President Kwak handed out HBM snacks to people. As he did during the meeting on the 5th, CEO Huang joked, "I want more HBM," drawing laughter from the crowd.

During the dinner, CEO Huang came out and answered questions from reporters. When asked about cooperation with SK Group, he said, "We achieved really great results with SK hynix this year," and added, "We are preparing for significant growth in the second half of this year and next year."

He specifically hinted at the possibility of semiconductor cooperation with SK hynix. CEO Huang said, "We have introduced the innovative Vera CPU, which will use SK hynix's DRAM," and added, "We are collaborating across a variety of industries, from AI supercomputers and CPUs to next-generation PCs and robotics." He emphasized that he came to Korea to make plans with SK Group, and that several announcements would be made on the 8th.

He also mentioned the potential for cooperation with domestic telecom companies such as SK Telecom. Industry observers anticipate that, following this meeting, discussions will expand on ways to enhance AI cooperation with SK Telecom, which is building a digital twin using the NVIDIA platform. On this day, he said, "In the telecommunications sector as well, we want to make even more active use of AI supercomputers," and added, "Today's telecommunications networks are only for data transmission (in bits), but in the future, they will also be used for AI." He continued, "We are having a lot of discussions, and we hope to reinvent telecommunications networks for the era of AI."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.