Samsung, SK, Naver Leaders to Meet Nvidia’s Huang in Silicon Valley as AI Chiefs Gather

OpenAI and Anthropic are also being discussed as participants

Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin are set to meet Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang in Silicon Valley this week, according to South Korean business circles. The gathering would be unusual in bringing together the heads of several companies at the forefront of the global artificial intelligence market. Cooperation on AI infrastructure is expected to be on the agenda.

A roundtable involving leaders from Samsung, SK, Naver and Nvidia is being arranged near Silicon Valley this week, according to business community officials on July 22. July 24 is emerging as the likely date. Lee, Chey, Lee and Huang are expected to attend, while OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei are also being mentioned as possible participants.

If the meeting takes place, it would effectively be the first time leaders from top companies spanning the global AI market’s core segments — memory, graphics processing units and generative AI services — have gathered in one place. Huang visited South Korea early last month and met executives from Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG and Naver. Another meeting little more than a month later would underscore Nvidia’s emphasis on partnerships with Korean companies.

OpenAI and Anthropic are widely seen as two of the most influential companies in generative AI through ChatGPT and Claude, respectively. The meeting would bring together major players across memory, AI chips including GPUs, and generative AI services: Samsung and SK in memory, Nvidia in chips, and Naver, OpenAI and Anthropic in services. That lineup points to a broadening alliance structure in the AI market.

South Korea is increasingly positioning itself as a core AI infrastructure partner, moving beyond its traditional role as a supplier of memory semiconductors. Expanding ties between US technology companies and Korean chipmakers reflect that competitiveness. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix supply Nvidia with high-performance memory including high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, and both companies’ HBM4 products will be installed in Vera Rubin, Nvidia’s next-generation AI accelerator scheduled for release in the second half of this year.

Samsung and SK also supply memory for OpenAI’s in-house AI chips. Last year, they also signed an agreement to supply high-performance memory for Stargate, a next-generation AI infrastructure project worth several hundred trillion won.

Cooperation is also expanding beyond memory into foundry, or contract chip manufacturing. Samsung Electronics is handling foundry production for the inference-focused language processing unit, or LPU, Grok 3, which will be used on Nvidia’s platform. More recently, Anthropic has also discussed producing AI chips using Samsung Electronics’ 2-nanometer process, broadening the scope of cooperation.

Naver is expected to discuss cooperation related to its AI factory buildout at the meeting. An AI factory is a facility that supports large-scale AI computing by combining AI models and cloud technology with physical infrastructure such as GPU servers, data centers, and power and cooling systems.

During his trip to South Korea last month, Huang also held a Korean barbecue dinner with Chey, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Lee. At the time, he signed autographs for diners and was seen trying the Korean custom of wrapping meat and side dishes in leafy vegetables. Citizens and reporters crowded the site from the morning to catch a glimpse of Huang and the business leaders.

That dinner was the first public meal involving the group in about seven months since the so-called Kkanbu meeting held in Seoul’s Samseong-dong in October 2025. At that gathering, Huang drew attention for a get-together with Lee and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung that featured fried chicken and somaek, a mix of soju and beer.

Kang Kyung-ju, Hankyung.com reporter qurasoha@hankyung.com