"You Have to Grab It If You See It at the Convenience Store"... Snack Sales Soar 704% After Jensen Huang Opens the Bag

Sales of 'HBM Chip' Opened by Jensen Huang Soar 8-Fold

A Private Brand Collaboration with SK hynix

Gifted to Citizens After the Pork Belly Gathering

Customers are examining HBM chips at a convenience store. Seven Eleven

The visit of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to South Korea has unexpectedly generated a 'marketing effect' for the domestic retail industry. Scenes of natural consumption, rather than separate advertisements or sponsorships, have gone viral on social networking services (SNS), making related stores and brands a constant topic of discussion. In particular, the convenience store snack that CEO Huang personally opened and shared with citizens saw its sales skyrocket by eight times in just two days, fully experiencing the so-called 'Jensen Huang Effect'.

Sales Jump 8 Times as Jensen Huang Opens the Snack... Searches Surge 160-Fold

According to Seven Eleven on June 10, sales of the 'Seven Select Honey Banana Mat HBM Chip' jumped about 8 times (704%) on June 6–7 compared to the same days of the previous week. During the same period, searches for the snack through the mobile app also surged by approximately 160 times.

Previously, on June 5, CEO Huang visited the restaurant 'Hyungnim Juyo' near Hongdae Entrance Station in Mapo-gu, Seoul, where he met with Tae-won Choi, Chairman of SK Group, Kwang-mo Koo, Chairman of LG Group, and Haejin Lee, Chairman of the Board of Naver, for a 'pork belly meeting.' Afterward, he gifted the snack to citizens, opened a bag on the spot, and tasted the snack himself.

Then, on June 7, he met with Chairman Choi at 'Kanbu Chicken' in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. After the meeting, Chairman Choi came outside the store to hand out the snack to citizens. At that time, CEO Huang enthusiastically shouted, "HBM! I want more HBM!"

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, and Taewon Choi, Chairman of SK, shared HBM chips and chicken while enjoying chicken and beer together on the 7th at Kanbu Chicken Samsung branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

This product is a private brand (PB) item launched through collaboration between Seven Eleven and SK hynix. The name 'HBM Chip' is a combination of the initial letters of 'Honey,' 'Banana,' and 'Mat' (meaning flavor in Korean), while also serving as a play on words referencing both high bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors and the word 'chip.'

The product itself is shaped in a rectangular structure reminiscent of a semiconductor chip, and the packaging features a design inspired by semiconductor imagery. This unique concept of combining technology and food has drawn strong interest from consumers since its launch.

"Edible Semiconductor Chip Pays Off"... SK hynix Snack Sells Out Everywhere

Immediately after its launch, the product went viral online, with reactions such as "The semiconductor concept is innovative," "What's the yield rate for this snack?" "Truly the country of HBM," and "This unique collaboration is intriguing."

Riding the wave of attention, the initial batch of 100,000 units sold out within nine days of launch, and the second batch of 100,000 units was also completely sold out, resulting in a 'sold-out crisis.' At the time, related posts on the official SNS accounts of Seven Eleven and SK hynix quickly surpassed 3 million cumulative views.

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