Jensen Huang says 40-year-old PC must be 'completely reinvented' for agentic AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday that the global semiconductor supply shortage will persist for now, while laying out an ambitious vision for the AI PC market that Nvidia has officially entered — speaking at the GTC Taipei 2026 media briefing held at the Grand Hilai Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan.

Huang said Nvidia is fully focused on what he described as a monumental undertaking. "We are completely focused on an enormously large project to completely reinvent the PC for the first time in 40 years," he said. "If this effort and challenge doesn't seem ambitious enough, we should look in the mirror and reflect on ourselves."

He said the fragmented state of today's PC ecosystem has deep technical roots. "There are technical reasons why the PC ecosystem is fragmented today, and the industry has struggled for many years to bring all of this together into a single unified platform," he said. "But we believed we had the ability to do it — from a technical standpoint and through collaboration with our software partners."

Huang said the effort has brought together a broad coalition of partners. "To that end, an enormous number of people — ourselves, MediaTek, PC manufacturers and Microsoft — have all joined forces solely to make AI agents run perfectly and to completely redesign the architecture of the computer," he said. "This basically means the entire lineup of computers has been completely reinvented." He added that the PC is "effectively the largest edge device in the world." Just as the automobile had to be reinvented, he said, the PC must be rebuilt from the ground up for agentic AI systems. "The PC is 40 years old," he said. "Just as we had to completely reinvent the car, the PC must be completely reinvented for agent systems."

He went on to say that a sweeping market launch is coming. "This fall, amid the great wave of agent-centric AI, there will be a cascade of major product launches involving all of our partners," he said.

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 debut an AI PC this fall powered by its "N1X" chip — a CPU capable of running agentic AI on personal computers. The industry is watching closely to see whether the move will shake up the CPU market that Intel and AMD have dominated for the past 40 years.

Nvidia's push into the consumer PC market is also expected to benefit Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Industry sources believe the N1X chip will incorporate eight units of 16GB LPDDR5X memory running at 9.6 Gbps — components supplied by Samsung and SK Hynix. Growing demand for high-capacity memory is expected to lift sales at both companies.

A foundry order for Samsung is another prospect drawing attention. MediaTek, a Taiwanese fabless chipmaker, was involved in developing the N1X 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 made headlines the previous day by dining with working-level representatives from major South Korean companies — including Samsung, SK Hynix, LG Corp and Doosan — as well as heads of Korean startups in Nvidia's ecosystem. He said Korea is "a very important part of our ecosystem" and signaled a visit to the country. He also hinted at possible investment in robotics, and was seen enjoying "somaek," a popular Korean mixed drink of soju and beer.

The gathering, dubbed "Korea Partner Night," took place the previous afternoon at a local Taiwanese restaurant. 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). The casual setting was seen as a reflection of Huang's down-to-earth personality.

Asked whether Nvidia is considering investing in Korea, Huang said, "We will always consider investing in Korea." He cited the country's strengths: "Korea has a great ecosystem and its companies are outstanding. There is a lot we need to do together — chips, DRAM, science, robotics, AI factories." He specifically named robotics as a concrete 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 also 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 Korea faces a growing labor shortage despite its ambition and creativity. "Korea has great imagination, creativity and ambition, but is running short of hands — the working population," he said. "AI and robots will maximize Korea's potential." The first toast of the evening was "To Korea's AI."

Huang also hinted at the possibility of holding a GTC conference in Seoul. GTC is Nvidia's annual AI developer and industry conference, held each year in the United States, Taiwan and other locations, where the company unveils its vision for AI and future technologies.

Nvidia has held GTC events in the US and Taiwan each year to present its vision for AI and emerging technologies. Huang said Korea has long been close to him. "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," he 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 GTC concludes. "This year Nvidia has had a great year, and our Korean partners have also achieved great results," he said. "The second half of this year and next year are expected to be very busy, and I am visiting Korea to prepare for that."

After wrapping up 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 reportedly scheduled 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.

On the question of meetings with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix during his Korea visit, Huang declined to elaborate, saying only, "I can't say." He added, "The most important thing will probably be eating chicken and samgyeopsal in Korea." Asked whether he has plans to meet President Lee Jae Myung, he said, "I would be happy to."