Seoul / U.S., 19 October 2025 — NVIDIA Corporation’s Chief Executive Jensen Huang is set to attend the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, from 28 to 31 October, the U.S. AI-chip maker announced.
During the summit, Huang will meet with “global leaders and top Korean executives,” including representatives from South Korea’s memory-chip giants Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and SK Hynix Inc., key suppliers for AI-data-centre infrastructure.
In an official statement, NVIDIA said Huang will participate in activities designed to highlight the company’s work in AI, robotics, digital twins and autonomous vehicles, both in Korea and globally.
Why this matters for Asia and the tech-ecosystem
The timing and location of Huang’s attendance are significant. South Korea is positioning itself as a strategic hub for AI and semiconductor innovation in Asia, and the APEC CEO Summit offers a high-profile platform for tech diplomacy amid heightened geopolitical and trade tensions.
- The memory-chip business, dominated in large part by Samsung and SK Hynix, is vital to NVIDIA’s GPU and AI-data-centre ecosystem. Meetings between Huang and the Korean chip-executive community may pave the way for deeper supply-chain alignment.
- The summit also comes as U.S.–China trade tensions are putting tech firms under pressure. NVIDIA has been caught up in recent Chinese anti-monopoly scrutiny, and its supply-chain strategy in Asia is under close watch.
- For Malaysia and other ASEAN markets, the increased visibility of Korea in the AI-chip value chain represents both competition and opportunity, Korean firms may increasingly regionalise supply, but so too may they seek regional partners and investment that touch ASEAN.
What to watch for
- Any announcements of joint-ventures or supply-agreements between NVIDIA and Korean memory firms, especially in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) or AI-data-centre modules.
- Signals on U.S. semiconductor policy or export-control shifts, given the U.S.–China context in which the summit sits.
- Engagement between Korean government / semiconductor-industry leaders and global AI firms, potentially opening regional alliances or investment flows that affect Southeast Asia.
- For NVIDIA: how the company uses an Asia-based summit to articulate its growth in markets beyond the U.S., and how it navigates regional regulatory risks.
