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SK chief gifts Jensen Huang with HBM wafer after missing out on 'chicken summit'

Published: 01 Nov. 2025, 11:50

LEE JAE-LIM
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang receives an SK hynix HBM4 semiconductor wafer as a gift from SK Group Chairman and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won at the APEC CEO Summit held at the Gyeongju Arts Center in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Oct. 31. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met privately with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, on Oct. 31, following Huang's “fried chicken summit” the previous day with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung.

Chey, who was unable to attend the previous gathering, greeted Huang and presented him with a commemorative high bandwidth memory (HBM) wafer.

The pair met at the Gyeongju Arts Center after Huang delivered a keynote speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit. Chey, who had remained in Gyeongju as a host of the summit, coordinated his schedule to meet Huang one-on-one instead of joining the previous day’s dinner.

SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung and President Kim Joo-sun were also in attendance. The three were seen walking together through the Arts Center corridors while talking for about 10 minutes, after which they exchanged prepared gifts in front of reporters.

Huang presented Chey with Nvidia’s latest personal AI supercomputer, the DGX Spark, along with a bottle of Hakushu whisky — the same gift he had given to Lee and Chung the day before. The DGX unit was engraved with the message, “Tony, To our partnership and future of the world,” referencing Chey’s English name, and included Huang’s signature.

The DGX Spark AI supercomputer that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang presented to Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won, who also goes by "Tony," at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit held at the Gyeongju Arts Center, North Gyeongsang, on Oct. 31. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

In return, Chey gifted Huang a framed HBM wafer produced by SK hynix. Accepting the gift, Huang joked that it was expensive and heavy. SK hynix is currently the largest supplier of HBM chips to Nvidia.

During the meeting, the two sides are understood to have discussed strengthening cooperation in AI factory and semiconductor development. SK Group plans to establish an AI factory using more than 50,000 Nvidia processors, integrating its Ulsan AI data center with digital twin, robotics and 3-D simulation-based industrial AI services. SK Telecom has also signed a memorandum of understanding for research and development with Nvidia on AI networking.

The agreement is part of a broader AI chip supply commitment in which Nvidia will provide Korea with 260,000 Blackwell GPUs to strengthen the nation’s AI infrastructure.

In his special address at the APEC CEO Summit, Huang praised Korea as a global technology powerhouse with strengths in software, manufacturing and AI.

The Nvidia chief hailed Korea as poised to become “one of the largest GPU or AI infrastructure countries in the world” through the deal. He also noted strategic collaborations underway: digital twin-based AI factories with Samsung, an industrial AI cluster with SK, robot manufacturing plants with Hyundai Motor Group and an expansion of GPU infrastructure to 60,000 units with Naver.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]