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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is headed to South Korea where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump and the countrys top business executives.
Trump may discuss Nvidias future in China with the countrys President Xi Jinping.
Nvidia could also make more partnership announcements on infrastructure with top Korean firms such as SK Group and Samsung.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is headed to South Korea, one of the companys most important markets, ahead of meeting there between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
For Huang, its expected to be a trip that mixes business and politics with a meeting with Trump on the cards as well as execs from South Koreas biggest firms such as Samsung and SK Group.
Market watchers will also be looking out for clues as to Nvidias future in China.
Heres what might happen this week with Nvidia.
Nvidias key suppliers
South Korea is home to one of Nvidias most important suppliers: SK Hynix. The company develops so-called high-bandwith memory, or HBM, a specific type of semiconductor that goes into Nvidias high-end AI systems.
Among the execs that Huang is expected to meet is SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Yonhap reported. SK Group is SK Hynixs parent company.
The meeting could be a chance to discuss future HBM development. Rival Samsung also develops HBM but its product has not been certified by Nvidia for use. A discussion about the progress on Samsungs HBM could be on the cards as Huang said Tuesday he would meet with the company.
Infrastructure and business deals
Huang has been on a world tour this year visiting countries in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. More often than not, Nvidiahas announced infrastructure deals during these trips, outlining how the tech giant will supply its coveted graphics processing unit-based products to data center projects.
On the sidelines of the Nvidia developers conference held in Washington on Tuesday, Huang said his company is partnering with with Samsung and autoamker Hyundai in many ways including investing in AI factories a term used to describe data centers.
SK Telecom, another subsidiary of SK Group, is currently building data centers in South Korea. Nvidia is planning to supply its chips to SK Group, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Other areas where Nvidia may announce plans could be driverless cars and robotics, a major area of focus for South Koreas tech industry.
Trump meeting and China
And for Huang, its not just about business. Geopolitics will be a big focal point as Huangs trip coincides with a planned meeting between Trump and Xi in South Korea.
Trump called Huang an incredible guy during a speech at the APEC Summit in South Korea. Separately, Trump said he will meet with the CEO on Wednesday.
This week could be crucial for providing insights on Nvidias future in China. The tech giant was previously banned from exporting its AI chips to China until earlier this year when the Trump administration ended the restrictions. While Nvidia is permitted to exportits downgraded H20 chip to China, Beijing has reportedly pushed local companies not to purchase it. Instead, China is pushing its local firms to buy domestic Nvidia alternatives.
Trump on Wednesday signaled that Nvidias Blackwell AI processors could be up for discussion with Xi.The Blackwell chip is Nvidias most advanced product and is not currently allowed to be exported to China.
Trump wants to do business with China and he considers almost everything is business including Nvidia, George Chen, partner and co-chair of the digital practice at The Asia Group, told CNBC on Wednesday.
We may see China wants some sort of guarantee that the U.S. will not add location trackers into U.S. chips to be sold to China ... The U.S. may also have its own demands in return, hence Nvidia now becomes one of the bargains for the two presidents in Korea.
Chinese regulators in July raised concerns about the security of Nvidia chips in July. The worlds second-largest economy is a lucrative market for Nvidia and being shut out has already cost the tech giant billions of dollars in lost sales. Any opening up of the China market will be positive for the chip maker.
