NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at a California fried chicken restaurant earlier this month, continuing a pattern of informal semiconductor supply chain negotiations.
The February 5 meeting at "99 Chicken" restaurant focused on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supplies and broader artificial intelligence collaboration.
Industry sources indicate discussions centered on HBM4, the sixth-generation memory expected to power NVIDIA's upcoming "Vera Rubin" AI accelerator.
SK hynix, NVIDIA's key HBM supplier, plans mass production of HBM4 aligned with customer schedules. The Korean memory manufacturer reportedly holds around 70 percent of the HBM4 market share this year.
Both executives' daughters attended the Silicon Valley meeting. Choi Min-jeong, representative of Integral Health and daughter of Chairman Chey, joined Madison Huang, senior director of NVIDIA's robotics division and daughter of CEO Huang.
This marks Huang's second high-profile fried chicken meeting with Korean tech leaders in four months. In October 2025, he met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Euisun Chung at a Seoul chicken shop. Those discussions reportedly covered semiconductor supply networks, AI infrastructure, and robotics collaboration.
Samsung currently supplies NVIDIA with HBM3E chips and has begun sending HBM4 samples to clients. SK hynix announced its 2026 memory supply sold out earlier this year, with plans to expand production investment.
"SK hynix may not meet 100 percent of customer demand despite full-scale production," an SK hynix official told The Korea Times. "However, our leadership position as a dominant supplier will remain intact, supported by product performance, manufacturing capability and quality."
Rival Samsung Electronics expects to begin HBM4 production later this year. The competitive memory market creates strategic opportunities for Huang's informal diplomacy.
Huang's California meeting with Chey followed their October 2025 encounter at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in Gyeongju. Chey has remained in the United States since early February for meetings with major U.S. technology companies.
The NVIDIA CEO maintains an active travel schedule promoting AI adoption. In July 2025, he visited Washington D.C. and Beijing to discuss AI benefits with government officials.
Huang returns to San Jose March 16-19 for NVIDIA's GTC 2026 keynote, where he typically unveils new computing advances.
SK Group plans AI solution expansion beyond memory chips, aligning with NVIDIA's broader ecosystem strategy. The company renamed its U.S. NAND flash subsidiary Solidigm to "AI Company" as part of increased semiconductor investments.
