[Chiptalk] Even China Laughs at 'Rockstar' Jensen Huang's One Word

Not only Korea but also China benefits
"Need to build an ecosystem to increase added value"

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's single remark brought cheers from Chinese electric vehicle and IT companies. When news of AI semiconductor collaboration was announced, not only K-semiconductor companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw their stock prices rise, but Chinese companies also gained business opportunities. Despite international trade pressures such as U.S. sanctions, CEO Huang continues to conduct business with China.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 25th, when CEO Huang stated at the world's largest AI conference 'GTC 2024' held from the 18th to 21st (local time) that NVIDIA is testing Samsung Electronics' high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, Samsung Electronics' stock price rose 5.63% in a single day on the 20th, closing at 76,900 KRW. It is rare for Samsung Electronics' stock to rise 5% in a day unless there is news of major customer deliveries below 4nm (1nm = one billionth of a meter). In other words, CEO Huang has become a 'rockstar' who can move the stock prices of global semiconductor companies with just one word. SK Hynix also announced on the 19th, during the event, that it is mass-producing and supplying 5th generation HBM products to NVIDIA.

While the Korean semiconductor market is excited by CEO Huang's words, news of collaboration with Chinese electric vehicle and IT companies emerged in the Greater China region. Taiwan's Economic Daily reported that on the opening day of GTC 2024, the 18th, NVIDIA announced it would expand its cooperation with China's BYD in AI training, automobile manufacturing, vehicle computing, and other areas.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, is showcasing new products at the AI conference 'GTC 2024' held on the 18th (local time) in San Jose, California, USA. GTC is the world's largest AI conference hosted annually by NVIDIA.
[Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

NVIDIA increasing its transactions with Tesla is good news not only for foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company TSMC but also for Chinese IT company 'Huidu.' Huidu manufactures the automotive semiconductor 'Drive Thor' used in BYD vehicles. Drive Thor is a semiconductor powered by NVIDIA's graphics processing unit (GPU) 'Blackwell,' which CEO Huang announced on the 19th will be released in the second half of the year. Danny Shapiro, Vice President of Huidu's automotive business, said, "Drive Thor will be installed in BYD vehicles next year."

In other words, while Samsung Electronics' stock rose about 5% in a day on news that it is being tested before supplying to NVIDIA, Taiwan's TSMC and China's Huidu have established concrete business collaboration strategy models with NVIDIA and major client BYD through expanded transactions. Taiwan's Economic Daily reported on the 19th that as soon as CEO Huang announced the release of Blackwell in the second half of the year, "Chinese company Huidu welcomed the adoption of the Blackwell architecture by Amazon, Dell, Alphabet (Google), Meta, Microsoft (MS), OpenAI, Oracle, Tesla, and others." This indicates that when NVIDIA develops new AI semiconductor products, Chinese companies like Huidu believe they can increase transactions not only with NVIDIA but also with big tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

Experts expressed skepticism about whether the Blackwell chips would be supplied in large quantities to Chinese companies, as reported by Taiwanese media. However, from the perspective of 'supply chain diversification,' where NVIDIA's excellent AI accelerators are introduced and utilized across various business sectors such as BYD (finished vehicles) and Huidu (automotive semiconductors), the Chinese IT industry is far ahead of the Korean semiconductor industry.

Kim Yang-peng, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, said, "If the Taiwanese media reports are true, it is like saying that Hyundai Motor in Korea will increase deliveries of domestically produced semiconductor products that trade with NVIDIA, but such news is unlikely to emerge. Chinese and Taiwanese companies can enhance added value by utilizing NVIDIA's new products (AI accelerators) in the production of various in-house products, but Korea does not have such an ecosystem properly established."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.