"Now is truly Hyundai Motor's time. Everything you have built so far, every field in which you have expertise, will now be combined with AI (artificial intelligence), and at that moment an explosive change will occur. It is a great honor for us to become your good friend and good partner. NVIDIA loves Hyundai Motor."
When NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang took the mic at 1:30 p.m. on the 8th at Hyundai Motor Group's Yangjae headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and said this, employees surrounding him erupted in cheers and applause. From the moment Huang, wearing his trademark leather jacket, appeared at the Yangjae headquarters around 1:30 p.m., Hyundai Motor employees revealed their fandom by chanting the CEO's first name, "Jensen."
One employee even got an autograph on the T-shirt they were wearing, while many others snapped selfies with him. Huang had originally planned to tour for 15 minutes the lobby of the Yangjae headquarters, recently remodeled into a "physical AI testbed," but he stayed in the lobby for about 30 minutes as he engaged with employees.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, who had a "surprise lunch" with Huang the previous day at a Pyongyang cold noodles restaurant in Euljiro, Seoul, met with Huang for a second straight day. Chung personally briefed Huang on an irrigation robot that handles the lobby landscaping, Kia's three-wheeled vehicle, and the multipurpose vehicle PV5. Throughout the lobby tour, so many employees crowded around them that Huang's eldest daughter, Madison Huang, a senior director at NVIDIA, wrapped her arms around Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon, who was moving with them, and jokingly shouted, "I'll protect you."
Huang repeatedly said, "Amazing" and "Beautiful" as he looked around the lobby. "Everything I saw here today was deeply moving," he said. "Everything was original and innovative, and it showcased Hyundai Motor's world-class technology and engineering capabilities." He added, "The next wave of AI is mobility and physical AI, and this is the future," emphasizing "a future where AI understands the world, goes out into the world, and performs valuable, productive work for people."
◇ Chung Eui-sun: "Let's do the Saemangeum AI Valley together"… Jensen Huang: "Happy to join"
After about a 30-minute lobby tour, Huang and Chung moved at 2 p.m. to begin discussions with executives from both sides. They had planned to leave for their next stop, Naver, around 2:30 p.m., but it was around 3 p.m., well past that time, when Huang and Chung reappeared.
The two sides discussed cooperation in various fields, including AI, centered on Saemangeum in North Jeolla. "Hyundai Motor Group is making significant investments in Saemangeum and plans to invest more going forward, and we explained projects that will incorporate AI and Robotics there," Chung said. "We talked about joining forces, if there is interest in participating, to build a complete AI, Robotics, and data center system together."
Huang responded, "There is Silicon Valley in California, and Hyundai Motor Group is inventing an 'AI Valley,'" adding, "AI will be a very important technology for Saemangeum." He said, "Chairman Chung invited me to the Saemangeum AI Valley, and if there's a great pork belly barbecue (samgyeopsal hot spot), I'll be happy to join." It is interpreted as expressing interest, though not confirming an investment.
Huang also emphasized that Korea is an optimal location for building AI data centers. "Just as cars are produced in factories, we need AI factories to produce AI," he said. "Korea has many researchers and many startups, and because the robotics industry here will be very large, I am strongly convinced that Korea will come to possess very large-scale AI infrastructure."
They also exchanged views on autonomous driving mobility. "Chairman Chung always focuses on developing new technologies safely," Huang said. "We will work together to apply AI to all forms of mobility, and the mobility of the future will be truly amazing." To enhance its autonomous driving capabilities, Hyundai Motor Group has adopted NVIDIA's next-generation autonomous driving platform, Drive Hyperion.
They discussed ways to accelerate the application of robotics in industrial settings as well. "The time to industrialize Robotics is very near," Huang said. "We discussed how we can collaborate to more widely adopt Hyundai Motor's robot platforms and better integrate them into manufacturing sites."
◇ In financial markets, questions rise about NVIDIA investing in Boston Dynamics
At the meeting with Chairman Chung, Huang said, "In this new era, there is no better place than Hyundai Motor to leverage and create robotics, the next evolution of AI. From mobility to robotics to AI factories, we are very excited to partner with Hyundai Motor across all the different fields of AI."
The investment banking industry is watching whether the meeting between the two could lead to an NVIDIA investment in Boston Dynamics. Kim Jin-seok, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "There is a possibility that SoftBank will exit its equity in Boston Dynamics between June and July, and that could lead to strategic investments (SI) by the likes of Google and NVIDIA."
In June 2021, Hyundai Motor Group acquired 80% equity in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank, and at the time SoftBank signed an option contract allowing it to hand over its 9.5% equity stake to Hyundai if the group does not pursue a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) by June 2025.
As early as the third quarter, Hyundai Motor Group plans to launch operations in the United States of the Robot Meta Plant Application Center (RMAC), a hub for robot training, and there is talk that NVIDIA could work with Hyundai Motor Group to utilize robot action data generated in the process. Lim Eun-young, Head of Team at Samsung Securities, said, "Both NVIDIA and Google need real-world accumulated robot action data to advance their robot foundation models."