SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Silicon Valley last week to explore collaboration in artificial intelligence semiconductors, strengthening their partnership over “chimaek” -- fried chicken and beer -- industry sources reported on Tuesday.
On Feb. 5, the two met for discussions at 99 Chicken, a Korean-style fried chicken restaurant in Santa Clara, California, located about five minutes from Nvidia’s headquarters. The location is recognized as one of Huang’s frequent eating places.
In the meeting, it is thought that they talked about supply strategies for HBM4, the next-gen high bandwidth memory intended for Nvidia’s forthcoming AI accelerator platform, Vera Rubin, anticipated to be released in the latter half of this year.
SK hynix recently informed investors that it is advancing with HBM4 mass production according to timelines established with clients, highlighting its position as a vital memory partner to Nvidia.
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Industry sources indicate that the discussions likely addressed wider collaboration on AI data centers, including server memory components like SOCAMM and NAND flash.
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Since September of the previous year, Chey has been directly managing the North American operations of the group as the chairman of SK Americas and SK hynix Americas. SK Americas acts as the conglomerate's regional center for strategic collaborations within the global AI ecosystem.
The gathering also compensated for Chey’s lack of presence at a prior meeting in Seoul in October, when Huang met with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chair Chung Euisun during his trip for the APEC summit.
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NVIDIA is a leading American tech firm established in 1993, acknowledged as the global frontrunner in accelerated computing and AI. Initially recognized for creating the GPU in 1999 to transform PC gaming, the company now leads in data center, AI, and automotive sectors, with a market capitalization surpassing $3 trillion.