[CEO Summit Guide] ③ Jensen Huang to Meet Chey Taewon and Lee Jaeyong... Discussing AI and Semiconductor Cooperation

Jensen Huang to Speak at Special Session on October 31
Unveiling Next-Generation Visions for AI and Robotics
Separate Meetings Planned with Chairmen Chey and Lee
If Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Attends
Possible Three-Way Meeting: Huang, C

The 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, set to take place in Gyeongju starting on October 28, is expected to serve as a venue for "business diplomacy," with more than 1,700 business leaders from around the world in attendance. Throughout the event, various forms of CEO meetings will likely reveal the outlines of strategic structures connecting industry-specific cooperation lines. An industry insider commented, "We expect to see the emergence of industrial diplomacy spanning from AI to semiconductors and energy."

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. The Asia Business Daily Database

'AI, Semiconductors, and Big Tech' Share the Stage

The most anticipated figure at this year's CEO Summit is Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. On the final day of the event, October 31, Huang will deliver a keynote speech at a special session, where he will share his vision for next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and autonomous driving. During the summit, he is also reportedly arranging separate meetings with Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, and Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Since Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix supply high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to NVIDIA, it is highly likely that discussions will focus on strengthening cooperation in AI semiconductors and data centers.

In particular, Chairman Chey and CEO Huang have continued their collaboration since last year, centering on the "StarGate" project. StarGate is a large-scale AI infrastructure consortium involving SK, NVIDIA, SoftBank, and OpenAI. Masayoshi Son, Chairman of SoftBank, is also reportedly attending this APEC summit. If schedules align, a meeting among Jensen Huang, Chey Tae-won, and Masayoshi Son is expected to take place.

Alongside the AI sector, the structure of semiconductor supply chain cooperation is also drawing attention. Not only will Taiwan's TSMC be present, but Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will also attend the Gyeongju event. During the CEO Summit, practical discussions are expected to take place on topics such as chip supply chain stability, joint research on next-generation packaging, and the standardization of semiconductor materials.

The summit is also expected to solidify the global big tech (major information technology companies) cooperation axis that connects the AI and semiconductor sectors. The attendee list includes Matt Garman, CEO of AWS; Simon Kahn, Vice President of Google Asia-Pacific; Simon Milner, Vice President of Meta; Antony Cook and Ulrich Homann, Vice Presidents of Microsoft. They will give presentations on AI ethics, data security, and cloud infrastructure, providing a concrete framework for cooperation across the AI ecosystem. AWS will be responsible for data infrastructure, Google for algorithms and open data, Microsoft for security and governance, and Meta for privacy protection. Korean companies are expected to use partnerships in these areas to gain deeper access to the entire AI industry ecosystem.

Expanding to Energy, Batteries, and Finance

Many CEOs from the energy and manufacturing sectors will also participate in the APEC Summit. Hanwha Group will lead the carbon neutrality session, with HD Hyundai, POSCO, and SK E&S joining. The session will also be attended by Harold Hamm, Chairman of Continental Resources in the United States, as well as senior officials from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), who are expected to discuss cooperation in clean energy areas such as hydrogen, renewable energy, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). Korean companies are also expected to share technologies and cooperation models in the "Future Energy" session on October 30, including hydrogen-based steelmaking, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Robin Zeng, Chairman of CATL, the world's largest battery manufacturer, will also visit Korea during APEC. He is expected to discuss expanding cooperation with domestic automakers and battery material companies. There is interest in whether Hyundai Motor Group and CATL will hold a high-level meeting during the summit. Hyundai Motor Group has been equipping its mid- to low-priced electric vehicles with CATL batteries, and recently applied CATL batteries to the Kia EV5, which is based on the E-GMP platform.

Other notable attendees include Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup; Daniel Pinto, Vice Chairman of JPMorgan; Joaquin Duato, CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Li Fanrong, Chairman of Sinochem; Toshiaki Tokunaga, CEO of Hitachi; and Masayuki Omoto, CEO of Marubeni. They are expected to promote cross-border cooperation across industries, finance, and materials. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will also attend to discuss the establishment of a global governance framework that goes beyond industry, finance, and trade.