South Korea is obsessing over Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s visit
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, conducts a Q&A session at a press conference during the APEC CEO summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31, 2025.
Woohae Cho | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may not be a member of the K-pop group BTS, but interest in his visit to South Korea has reached levels one would expect from a global celebrity.
A website in Korean called “Jensen Huang’s Footprints” shows a map and timeline of expected locations and meetings during the four-day visit, which begins Friday. Expect smoky Korean barbecue meals and soju drinking sessions. Huang will appear on “You Quiz on the Block,” one of the country’s most popular variety TV shows, and throw out the first pitch at a Doosan Bears baseball game.
This agenda isn’t just to entertain him. Nvidia is looking to deepen its ties with South Korea as technology supply chains come into focus given the Iran war and the company faces increasing regulatory hurdles when selling to the Chinese mainland market. A successful visit by the respected CEO could be very beneficial to the company’s fortunes in the country.
“Korea is a critical part of our ecosystem,” Huang told reporters at a dinner with South Korean tech executives on the first day of the annual Computex trade show in Taipei.
Upon closer look, it seems that the business side is also in focus for Koreans. The Footprints website, which has attracted more than 80,000 visitors, shows share price movements of companies often associated with Nvidia. Potential dining partners include tech industry giants such as SK Group’s Chey Tae-won, LG Group’s Koo Kwang-mo and Naver’s Lee Hae-jin.
Even in the baseball game, the president of the Doosan conglomerate, which owns the Bears, is preparing to participate as a hitter.
Shares of South Korea’s chip makers fell on Friday despite excitement over Huang’s visit; Broadcom’s downbeat earnings report was followed by losses in US chip stocks overnight. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics fell 3.98%, while SK Hynix fell 7.22%.
Posts about lard and Korean soju have been mixed ahead of Huang’s arrival.
Agri-food leader Farmsco lost 2.85% and conglomerate CJ CheilJedang lost 0.60%, while alcoholic beverage companies HiteJinro and Lotte Chilsung fell 3.44% and 0.19% respectively.
