Why Nvidia is betting on Korea for physical AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is putting South Korea’s physical AI potential in the spotlight, with robotics set to top the agenda during his planned visit to Seoul from Thursday.

“I think that robotics is very important to Korea, and I hope to be able to contribute to robotics in Korea,” Huang said during Nvidia’s “Korea Partner Night,” held for the first time on the sidelines of the Computex event in Taiwan on Tuesday.

“We would always consider investments in Korea, (it has) such a great ecosystem, really smart companies, very technical.”

Coming just seven months after an October visit centered on memory chip-makers, Huang has filled the itinerary for his latest trip with meetings involving key players in AI, robotics and digital twin technologies, among others.

As Korea’s manufacturing-heavy industries move faster toward AI-powered automation, industry watchers say closer ties with Nvidia could be a major boost to the country’s physical AI push.

Physical AI refers to AI systems that can perceive, reason and act in the physical world, taking into account constraints such as gravity, geometry and mass. It is expected to power autonomous vehicles, industrial robots, humanoids and smart factories, moving AI beyond digital services and into real-world operations.

Korea is emerging as a key player in the field, backed by a broad robotics value chain that spans high-bandwidth memory chips for advanced computing to batteries that power robots, an industry official said.

“Decades of expertise in precision machine control accumulated through automobile and electronics manufacturing are creating synergies with robotics technologies,” the official added.

Korea also has the world’s highest industrial robot density. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the country operates 1,220 robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees, more than six times the global average.

For Nvidia, which is building a full-stack physical AI ecosystem ranging from its GR00T N1.7 humanoid robot model to the Isaac robotics platform and Cosmos physics-based world model, Korean companies are increasingly seen as key partners that can help bring those technologies into real-world industrial applications.

Huang is expected to recreate the buzz of last year’s gathering over chicken and beer, known locally as the “kkanbu summit.” This time, over pork belly and soju with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin on Friday,

“Huang’s return after just seven months reflects Nvidia’s growing reliance on Korea, not only for memory chips but also for its broader physical AI ambitions,” said Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities.

Huang’s first meeting with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo is raising expectations for closer ties between Nvidia and Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, with talks likely to center on LG Electronics’ CLOiD home robot. Unveiled at CES 2026, the robot uses Nvidia’s Jetson Thor robotics chipset and Isaac platform.

Hyundai Motor Group is expected to discuss robotics, autonomous driving and AI factories, building on its work with Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas and its Nvidia partnership on AI factory-based mobility solutions.

Naver is expected to play a software and infrastructure role, expanding its Nvidia ties from the 60,000 graphics processing units secured at last year’s APEC summit to physical AI and sovereign AI infrastructure.

Doosan Group is drawing attention as a potential partner in industrial robots and smart factories, after Nvidia robotics executive and Jensen’s daughter, Madison Huang, visited in April for talks with Doosan Robotics executives.

Huang is also expected to meet NC CEO Kim Tae-jin, with the two companies likely to expand their long-standing gaming ties into physical AI. NC AI, the game developer’s AI subsidiary, was recently selected for a government-backed defense physical AI project in a consortium with Hyundai Rotem and has also partnered with Posco DX to develop physical AI-based robot intelligence technologies.

Huang is set to wrap up his six-day Korea trip with a closed-door meeting with about 30 robotics and AI companies and startups, including AI unicorn Upstage, RLWRLD, NdotLight and Aei Robot, some of which have taken part in Nvidia’s Inception Startup Grand Challenge.

herim@heraldcorp.com