Gathering of Korean and American Business Leaders... Possibility of 'Big Deals' in AI Chips and More [Gyeongju APEC]

Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, and Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, are set to hold consecutive meetings with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, during the APEC CEO Summit in Gyeongju. Concrete cooperation is expected in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, data centers, and robotics. Earlier this month, Lee Jae-yong and Chey Tae-won met with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, to discuss a large-scale AI semiconductor partnership. Now, expectations are rising for a second major AI chip deal in October.
There is also growing attention on the possibility of a meeting between Donald Trump, former President of the U.S.A., and the heads of major Korean conglomerates. The U.S.A. and Korea are expected to strengthen their economic alliance, focusing on AI semiconductors, shipbuilding, and defense industries.

Beginning with the official side events of the APEC CEO Summit on the 28th, the summit will run until the 31st in Gyeongju, drawing together over 1,700 global business leaders, including the heads of Korea's four major groups: Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG.
This APEC Summit and CEO Summit are not only a pivotal moment for tariff negotiations and the international trade order between the U.S.A., China, and Korea, but also a key venue for collaboration among leaders in the AI industry, which will shape future industrial dominance.
Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), who is also chairing the APEC CEO Summit, plans to officially open the event on the 29th and personally welcome President Trump, who will visit Korea as a state guest and attend the summit. President Trump is scheduled to deliver a special address at the CEO Summit during his stay. Xi Jinping, President of China, and Sanae Takaichi, the new Prime Minister of Japan, are also expected to give special addresses.

On the 30th in Seoul, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, will have a dinner meeting with Lee Jae-yong and Chung Eui-sun. During this gathering, discussions are expected to cover next-generation AI semiconductor cooperation between Samsung Electronics and Nvidia, including High Bandwidth Memory 4 (HBM4), as well as concrete collaborations between Hyundai Motor and Nvidia on Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), AI data centers, and robotics.
An industry official stated, "CEO Huang plans to discuss various AI collaborations with the Korean government, Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and others, including the 25th anniversary event for Nvidia's GeForce graphics card in Korea." On the final day of the event, the 31st, CEO Huang will present Nvidia's vision for AI, robotics, and autonomous driving targeting the Korean and Northeast Asian AI markets during a special session.
As Samsung and SK have recently agreed to fully cooperate with Nvidia on the Stargate Project, a massive AI infrastructure initiative also involving OpenAI and SoftBank, the meetings in Seoul and Gyeongju are seen as a potential turning point for the global AI supply chain.

kjh0109@fnnews.com Kwon Jun-ho, Cho Eun-hyo Reporter