Jensen Huang vows to 'completely reinvent' the PC for agentic AI era

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday that the global semiconductor supply shortage will persist for the time being, while laying out sweeping ambitions for the company's newly announced push into the AI PC market. He made the remarks at the GTC Taipei 2026 media briefing held at the Grand Hyalai Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, on Monday morning local time.

"We are completely focused on an enormously large project — completely reinventing the PC for the first time in 40 years," Huang said. "If this effort and challenge doesn't seem ambitious enough, I should look in the mirror and reflect on myself."

He said the fragmentation of today's PC ecosystem has deep technical roots, and that the industry has long struggled to bring everything together under a single unified platform. "But we believed, from a technology standpoint and through collaboration with software partners, that we had the ability to do it," he said.

Huang said the effort has brought together a vast number of players — MediaTek, PC manufacturers and Microsoft — all working toward the same goal: making AI agents run flawlessly and rebuilding the architecture of the computer from the ground up. "This basically means the entire lineup of computers has been completely reinvented," he said.

He also called the PC "effectively the largest edge device in the world," adding that just as the automobile had to be reinvented, the PC — now 40 years old — must be fully reimagined for agentic AI systems.

He went on to say that this fall will bring "a massive, waterfall-style market launch" involving all partner companies, riding the wave of agent-centered AI.

Huang had officially announced Nvidia's entry into the AI PC market during his GTC keynote address the previous day, anchored by the company's own in-house CPU.

Nvidia plans to release an AI PC this fall featuring its N1 X chip — a CPU capable of running agentic AI directly on a personal computer. The industry is watching closely to see whether the move will shake up the CPU market, which Intel and AMD have dominated for the past four decades.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also expected to benefit from Nvidia's move into the consumer PC space. Industry sources believe the N1 X chip will be paired with eight units of 16GB LPDDR5X memory running at 9.6 Gbps, produced by Samsung and SK Hynix. Growing demand for high-capacity memory is expected to boost sales at both companies.

A Samsung foundry order is another prospect drawing attention. MediaTek, a Taiwanese fabless chipmaker, was involved in developing the N1 X chip. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong recently visited MediaTek's headquarters in Taiwan with senior executives and held a private meeting with CEO Rick Tsai and other top management, according to industry sources.

Huang had also made headlines the previous day when he met with working-level representatives from major South Korean companies — including Samsung, SK Hynix, LG and Doosan — as well as leaders of Korean AI startups backed by Nvidia. He said "Korea is a very important part of our ecosystem" and signaled an upcoming visit to the country. He also hinted at possible investment in robotics, and was seen enjoying "somaek," a popular Korean cocktail of beer mixed with soju.

The gathering took place at a dinner event called "Korea Partner Night," held the previous evening at a local restaurant in Taipei. The event ran for more than two hours starting around 7 p.m. at Ruechao, a pojangmacha-style bar where all dishes are priced at 100 New Taiwan dollars (about 4,800 won, or roughly $3.50). Attendees described the venue as a reflection of Huang's unpretentious personality.

Asked whether Nvidia was considering investing in Korea, Huang said the company always would. "Korea has a great ecosystem and its companies are outstanding," he said. "There is a lot to do together — chips, DRAM, science, robotics, AI factories."

He singled out robotics as a specific area of investment interest. Nvidia is currently expanding collaboration with Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hyundai Motor, LG Electronics and Doosan in physical AI, including robotics.

"I think robotics is very important for Korea," Huang said. "I hope Nvidia can contribute to the development of robotics in Korea."

Attendees at the event included Kim Jae-jun, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics' memory business division; Kwak Noh-jung, CEO of SK Hynix; Jeong Su-heon, president of LG Science Park; and Kim Yu-won, CEO of Naver Cloud.

Huang also said that while Korea has great imagination, creativity and ambition, its workforce is shrinking. "AI and robots will maximize Korea's potential," he said. The first toast of the evening was "to AI in Korea."

Huang also signaled that Seoul could host a future GTC conference. The annual event, Nvidia's flagship AI developer and industry conference, has been held in the United States and Taiwan, where the company unveils its vision for AI and other emerging technologies.

"Korea has long been the center of esports and PC bang culture, and it has been very close to me since the early days of GeForce," Huang said. "If Korea — Seoul — wants it, I would be happy to hold GTC there."

He also said he plans to visit Korea after the Taipei event wraps up. "Nvidia has had a good year, and our Korean partners have also achieved strong results," he said. "The second half of this year and next year are expected to be very busy, and I'm visiting Korea to prepare for that."

After completing his Taiwan schedule, Huang is set to carry out a range of engagements in Korea, including meetings with the heads of major conglomerates and roundtable discussions.

He is expected to meet SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin for a samgyeopsal dinner in Seoul's Seongsu-dong neighborhood on Thursday.

When asked about his meeting schedule with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix during his Korea visit, Huang declined to elaborate. "The most important thing will probably be eating chicken and samgyeopsal in Korea," he said.

Asked whether he had plans to meet President Lee Jae Myung, Huang said, "I would gladly do so."

이번주 젠슨 황 ‘2차 깐부회동’ 전망… 이번엔 홍대? 성수동? 주요 핫플 거론

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