Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visits Seoul National University, tells students: 'This is your era'

<style ref="s1">"Jensen Huang! Jensen Huang!"</style>

Students began streaming onto Seoul National University's Gwanak Campus in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, from early Monday morning for the "Build-a-Claw" event co-hosted by SNU and Nvidia at the Haedong Advanced Engineering Building.

Doors opened around 10:15 a.m., but lines stretched out of the building as attendees queued to exchange their pre-registration confirmations for entry lanyards. More than 100 students waited their turn, undergraduates and graduate students mixed together. SNU said more than 1,000 people had registered in advance.

Among those who arrived around 10 a.m. was Ahn, a 29-year-old mechanical engineering graduate student. "I'm curious what he'll say to us as fellow engineers," he said. "Our lab server runs a lot of GPUs. Anyone who loves computers knows Nvidia because of its graphics cards."

Ahn recalled that Madison Huang, Jensen Huang's daughter, had visited SNU a few weeks earlier. "That was already surprising, but this is on a completely different level," he said with a laugh. "He might be the wealthiest person I've ever seen in real life." He added that if given the chance, he would ask Huang: "If you could take a time machine back to your 20s, what would you do?"

The atmosphere grew more electric as noon approached, with students chanting Huang's name. When the CEO appeared in his signature black leather jacket around 12:15 p.m., the auditorium erupted in cheers and applause. Students raised their phones all at once to take photos and videos. Stepping onto the stage, Huang's first words were "SNU!" — and the crowd roared back.

Huang told the audience they were living in an era defined by AI. "You now hold in your hands an amazing technology called AI — don't fear it, learn it and use it," he said. Drawing a parallel to his own career, he added: "Just as I stood at the start of the computer revolution, you stand at the start of the AI revolution. You are the generation that will use AI to design chips, build robots and lead new discoveries."

Reflecting on his youth, Huang said the personal computer was just beginning to reach the public when he entered the workforce, making him one of the first engineers to design chips with the help of computers. "When computers appeared, I wasn't afraid — I was thrilled," he said. "I loved computers because I was a gamer as a teenager."

He went on to say that many of Nvidia's products had no market and no customers when they first launched. "An innovator is someone who builds what no one has asked for and takes on challenges for a market that doesn't yet exist," he said.

Throughout the event, Huang repeatedly praised South Korea. "Few countries have the electronics industry, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, cloud and AI capabilities all at once," he said. "Korea has all of them. You are growing up in exactly the right country."

Students nodded along attentively. When Huang quipped, "When I left home this Monday morning, I was just Jensen — but now I'm K-Jensen. Next time I come to Korea, please call me K-Jensen," the audience burst into laughter and began chanting "K-Jensen."

Nvidia offered several prizes to event participants, including a DGX Spark bearing Huang's personal autograph. The DGX Spark is a compact AI supercomputer designed for personal AI development. Huang introduced the product himself during the event.

Each time a winner was announced, gasps and applause filled the room. After three consecutive draws all produced female winners, Huang joked: "In Korea, three women in a row keep winning. This really seems like a culture where women's power is strong" — drawing laughter from the crowd.

When a female mechanical engineering student's name was called, Huang declared: "Only at Seoul National University do female AI researchers and robotics researchers outnumber male ones. That is truly amazing" — prompting another wave of cheers. He also praised the field, saying: "The people AI researchers need most right now are great mechanical engineers. Mechanical engineers are taking over the world."

At the close of the event, SNU President Yoo Hong-lim took the stage to present Huang with an SNU jacket and a rare historical map from the Gyujanggak royal archive. When Huang shed his trademark black leather jacket and put on the SNU jacket, the audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Huang posed for commemorative photos with students in the SNU jacket, then wrapped up his schedule with autograph signings and prize presentations. To the end, he urged the crowd: "You are a generation with extraordinary opportunity. There is no great achievement without hardship and effort. Please seize the opportunity of the AI revolution."