[Reporter’s Notebook] Audience Showdown Between Jensen Huang and Chinese 'Flying Car' Company

Simultaneous Events at CES: Press Conference and Demonstration
Confidence in Their Own Technological Edge
K-Companies Must Awaken and Pursue Super-Gap Technologies

At 11 a.m. local time on the 7th, when the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition CES 2025 opened at the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States, Chinese electric vehicle company Xiaopeng showcased a "Flying Car" equipped with a propeller on its roof. The size of the vehicle was close to that of a small helicopter and slightly smaller than a compact car.

At 11 a.m. local time on the 7th, at the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States, Chinese electric vehicle company Xiaopeng held a demonstration event for a "Flying Car" equipped with a propeller on its roof. A large crowd gathered at the site. Photo by Kim Hyung-min

The car can fly for up to 35 minutes and accommodates two passengers. Its maximum speed is 130 km/h. Xiaopeng representatives emphasized that it can fly even higher outdoors.

More eye-catching than the "flying car," which many saw for the first time, was the crowd gathered there. Numerous people visited the Xiaopeng exhibition booth to watch the event that lasted just over an hour. At the same time, in another location, a meeting with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia and a top star in the industry, was taking place. For attendees interested in both, including journalists, it was a difficult moment. Imagine it like flipping TV channels; choosing Xiaopeng meant missing out on CEO Huang, forcing a binary choice.

It seems Xiaopeng intended to compete for audience attention against the AI industry star CEO Huang. One insider said, "Xiaopeng could not have been unaware of CEO Huang's meeting time," adding, "It was likely a strategy to make their demonstration event stand out more."

Behind this strategy was probably great confidence in their technology and global competition. This appeared to be true for all Chinese companies participating in CES 2025. Chinese companies notably performed strongly at this exhibition. Even when showcasing a single technology, they maximized its scale. While it might have been a "silent protest" against the U.S., which obstructed their visa applications and created interference, no one can easily dispute that the technologies Chinese companies boasted were unexpectedly advanced.

Chinese electronics company TCL, which claimed to be the official sponsor of CES 2025 and occupied the central booth in the main hall, introduced augmented reality (AR) glasses for watching TV, and Hisense showcased a giant TV screen. This was clearly different from the old days when China relied on size and quantity without technology to launch low-cost offensives.

This had significant implications for our companies and posed challenges. The assessment that China has reached a level threatening the positions of our leading electronics companies like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, completely changing the competitive landscape, has gained more weight. This CES became an "awakening" opportunity for us to be wary of Chinese companies and prepare countermeasures to regain the lead. There is only one way to keep first place in a race: continuous self-development and effort to surpass one's limits and develop "superhuman" skills. That is the "super-gap" technology our companies have always talked about. Now is the time it is needed.

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