"We have a true partnership between the United States and Korea." "I hope our partnership grows faster than the demand for GPUs." Lee Jae-Yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Chey Tae-Won, chairman of SK Group, celebrated Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, receiving the Van Fleet Award in New York, emphasizing their long-standing relationship and collaboration in artificial intelligence (AI).
According to industry sources, Huang received the 2026 Van Fleet Award at the Korea Society's annual gala in New York on September 28. The Korea Society cited Huang's leadership in the AI and semiconductor industries and his collaboration with Korean companies like Samsung and SK as reasons for the award.
In his speech, Lee first mentioned his personal connection with Huang, recalling their first meeting nearly 25 years ago at CES. He described Huang as someone who had big dreams and was willing to bet everything on what he believed in, adding, "I congratulate you as an old friend."
Lee also praised Huang for elevating AI to the center of the computing industry. He noted that his late father, Lee Kun-Hee, received the Van Fleet Award in 2006, stating that Huang was the most fitting recipient this year. The two share a commonality of having daughters named 'Madison' and a fondness for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which brought laughter to the audience.
Chey expressed the relationship between NVIDIA and SK more directly, stating, "NVIDIA designs the brain, and SK creates the memory." This metaphor illustrated how NVIDIA's graphics processing units (GPUs) and SK Hynix's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) work together as key components of AI accelerators.
He also shared an anecdote about Huang asking, "Can’t we make it faster?" during their meetings, linking this to Korea's 'ppalli ppalli' culture, which emphasizes speed, and explaining that both sides are moving at a similar pace. SK Hynix continues to supply HBM to NVIDIA, maintaining their collaborative relationship in the AI memory market.
Chey remarked that the stage for the US-Korea alliance is shifting to AI data centers. He noted that while General Van Fleet established the US-Korea alliance on the battlefield over 70 years ago, Huang is now at the forefront of this new frontier in data centers. He proposed a toast to Huang, his family, and the US-Korea alliance, expressing hope that the collaboration between NVIDIA and SK grows faster than the demand for GPUs.
Huang also emphasized the importance of his relationship with Korean companies, highlighting Korea's competitiveness in semiconductors and manufacturing. He stated that Korean companies are now building the 'factory of intelligence' for the AI era, and NVIDIA is partnering with them in this endeavor. The collaboration between NVIDIA and domestic companies like Samsung and SK Hynix is expanding beyond simple chip supply to include AI data centers and manufacturing infrastructure.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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