SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Silicon Valley last week to discuss cooperation in artificial intelligence semiconductors, reinforcing their partnership over “chimaek” -- fried chicken and beer -- industry sources said Tuesday.
The two held talks on Feb. 5 at a Korean-style fried chicken restaurant, 99 Chicken, in Santa Clara, California, about five minutes from Nvidia’s headquarters. The venue is known as one of Huang’s regular dining spots.
During the meeting, they are believed to have discussed supply plans for HBM4, the next-generation high bandwidth memory set to be used in Nvidia’s upcoming AI accelerator platform, Vera Rubin, expected to launch in the second half of this year.
SK hynix recently told investors it is proceeding with HBM4 mass production in line with schedules agreed with customers, underscoring its role as a key memory partner to Nvidia.
The talks also likely covered broader AI data center collaboration, including server memory modules such as SOCAMM and NAND flash, according to industry sources.
Since September last year, Chey has been directly overseeing the group’s North American operations as chairman of SK Americas and SK hynix Americas. SK Americas serves as the conglomerate’s regional hub for strategic partnerships across the global AI ecosystem.
The meeting also made up for Chey’s absence from an earlier gathering in Seoul in October, when Huang met Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chair Chung Euisun during his visit for the APEC summit.
herim@heraldcorp.com
