AI 제국의 수장, ‘형님 리더십’으로 한국의 게임·기술 생태계를 품다 > K-wave Trends

CEO Jensen Huang’s visit reaffirmed that NVIDIA’s growth history is inseparable from Korea’s gaming and PC bang culture. As his first stop, he visited "T1 Base Camp," an e-sports-dedicated PC bang in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to meet League of Legends (LoL) legend Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and his team. Huang emphasized that Korea is the birthplace of e-sports as a spectator sport, repeatedly stating that the core driving force behind today’s NVIDIA lies in Korea’s passionate gaming culture. He mingled with gamers in an informal manner, even cracking a joke about the high-end graphics cards on-site being "antiques," once again cementing the fact that NVIDIA’s roots are in gaming.

The highlight of this visit was undoubtedly the unveiling of the next-generation graphics card, the "GeForce RTX 5090," alongside Faker. This special edition, autographed by both, carries symbolic meaning beyond a simple product launch, representing the fusion of technology and culture. Furthermore, NVIDIA used this opportunity to introduce the "RTX Spark" architecture, a next-generation AI PC platform, signaling the dawn of the on-device AI era. This move highlights NVIDIA’s future vision of running AI agents that act as personal assistants directly within the PC environment, a vision that aligns perfectly with Korea’s highly advanced IT infrastructure.

Along with his technical agenda, Huang’s "Big Brother marketing" reached its peak during his meetings with leaders of Korean conglomerates. He held a "Sam-So" (pork belly and soju) gathering at a restaurant near Hongdae with heads of major domestic firms, including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin. This unconventional choice of venue follows the buzz created by his past "Kanbu Chicken" meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, showing an intent to transform solemn business meetings into forums for informal communication. This friendly approach not only positively shifts the public image of corporate leaders but also serves as a psychological bridge to solidify AI semiconductor supply chains and future technological cooperation between NVIDIA and major domestic companies.

NVIDIA’s strategic moves are also evident in its series of meetings with the gaming industry. CEO Huang met with key executives such as NCSoft CEO Kim Taek-jin and Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu to discuss next-generation game optimization and the expansion of the physical AI ecosystem. NVIDIA has recently been expanding its business scope into digital humans, generative AI tools, and robotics, and Korean game companies are the ideal partners to utilize these technologies for development efficiency and content advancement. In particular, the physical AI technology partnership between NCSoft’s AI subsidiary and NVIDIA signals that both companies will create powerful synergies in the future humanoid robot and physical environment-based AI industries.

Meanwhile, in the education sector, a different form of a "virtuous cycle ecosystem" is actively being built through cooperation between industry and academia to foster future tech talent. The Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education and the Ministry of Education are promoting a "10-Year Guaranteed Employment System," centered on specialized high schools like Jeongseok Aviation Science High School, to train talent optimized for local industries and help them settle into local jobs. This aligns with the trend of NVIDIA treating Korea’s IT ecosystem as a strategic partner in the AI era to "lock in" both technical talent and companies. Ultimately, the alliance between global tech leadership and local education policy will serve as an important milestone in demonstrating how our society can pursue sustainable growth through technological innovation.