![Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks with journalists from South Korea and other countries at "Korea Partner Night," a dinner with Korean companies held at a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, on Monday. [Joint Press Corps]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/04/rcv.YNA.20260601.PYH2026060117650000300_P1.jpg)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, widely regarded as the most influential figure in the global AI industry, is expected to arrive in South Korea on Friday afternoon.
According to sources in the business, information and communications technology, and aviation sectors, Huang is set to land at Gimpo Airport on Friday afternoon aboard a private jet.
The visit comes less than a year after his previous trip to South Korea in October last year.
As one of the most sought-after figures in the AI world, Huang faces a packed five-day schedule. Planned engagements range from a samgyeopsal dinner with top conglomerate chiefs to meetings with startup founders and university students. His trademark crowd-friendly appearances are also already confirmed — he will throw the ceremonial first pitch at a Doosan Bears home game and make a guest appearance on the popular variety show "You Quiz on the Block."
The visit is expected to yield significant cooperation in physical AI and robotics. Huang highlighted physical AI as a central theme in his keynote at GTC Taipei 2026, and his remarks singling out South Korea as a key robotics investment destination have raised expectations that the trip will help expand the country's robot ecosystem.
Huang's official schedule kicks off the moment he lands. He will head to a samgyeopsal restaurant in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, for a dinner with major conglomerate leaders. Attention is focused on whether the gathering will recapture the excitement of last year's celebrated "kanbu" meeting.
In October last year, Huang visited South Korea for the APEC CEO Summit and met Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung at Kanbu Chicken in Samseong-dong, Seoul, for a "chimaek" — fried chicken and beer — get-together. The meeting drew worldwide attention, with "kanbu," meaning a close and trusted friend, capturing the spirit of the occasion.
This time, the samgyeopsal dinner will include SK Corp Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Corp Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung, who attended last year's kanbu gathering, is also expected to join.
Huang is expected to rest on Saturday. On Sunday, he will take the mound at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul to throw the ceremonial first pitch before a Doosan Bears home game, wearing jersey No. 93 — a nod to Nvidia's founding year of 1993. Doosan Group Chairman Park Jung-won will respond in kind by stepping up to bat.
Whether Huang and Park will also discuss robotics cooperation ahead of the game is drawing attention. Huang's eldest daughter, Madison Huang, senior director of product marketing for Nvidia Omniverse and Robotics, visited Doosan Robotics in April to discuss building a robot execution platform.
Huang will also meet NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin on Sunday. NCsoft has maintained a long-running collaboration with Nvidia in gaming. While no official schedule has been confirmed, a meeting with Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu is also expected to be arranged. Both companies have been shifting their focus beyond gaming toward physical AI, and related discussions are anticipated.
On Monday, Huang is scheduled to meet startup founders and students. A roundtable with domestic AI and robotics company executives is planned at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, with Nota, Realworld and Upstage among those expected to attend.
That same day, he will also visit Seoul National University's AI Institute and robotics laboratory — a site previously visited by Madison Huang — where he is expected to engage directly with students.
Corporate campus visits are also on the agenda for Monday. At Naver's 1784 headquarters, discussions are expected to cover AI factory development, sovereign AI and physical AI cooperation. Naver Cloud was cited as a key Nvidia partner at GTC Taipei 2026. Visits to Hyundai Motor Group and LG Group headquarters have also been announced.
During his visit, Huang is expected to focus primarily on discussions about physical AI with South Korean companies.
At his GTC Taipei 2026 keynote on Monday, Huang put physical AI front and center. Nvidia introduced a range of related technologies at the event, including Cosmos3, a foundation model for physical AI, and Isaac GR00T, a humanoid robot platform. Huang also named Samsung Electronics' Rainbow Robotics, LG Electronics' CLOi and Hyundai Motor Group as robotics collaboration partners.
Huang made clear his strong commitment to partnering with Korean companies. At "Korea Partner Night," a dinner with Korean firms held Monday, he said Nvidia would "always look at investing in Korea," adding that "Korea has a great ecosystem and the companies are excellent." He specifically cited robotics as a concrete area for investment, saying he believed robotics was "very important for Korea" and that he hoped "Nvidia can contribute to the development of robotics in Korea."
gil@heraldcorp.com
