Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in South Korea on Friday bearing a message that the next major chapter of the artificial intelligence revolution may be written in robotics, and South Korea is uniquely positioned to lead it.

Making his second visit to the country in seven months, Huang used the trip to underscore the strategic role South Korea plays in Nvidia’s global AI ecosystem. While the country has become indispensable to Nvidia’s supply chain through its dominance in advanced memory chips, Huang is indicating that the relationship is evolving into something broader, encompassing robotics, AI factories, industrial automation, and physical AI systems.

“Because Korea is a manufacturing center of the world, we can apply the robotics technology, the physical AI technology that we invent here for the industry,” Huang told reporters after arriving at Gimpo International Airport from Taiwan.

“So we have a great opportunity to partner with the semiconductor companies here as well.”

Having established itself as the dominant supplier of AI chips powering data centers worldwide, Nvidia seems focused on what comes next: embedding AI into physical systems ranging from factories and warehouses to autonomous machines and humanoid robots.

For South Korea, a country whose industrial strength spans automobiles, shipbuilding, electronics, and semiconductors, that transition presents a potentially enormous opportunity.

Huang’s schedule reflects the breadth of Nvidia’s ambitions, meeting with executives from Hyundai Motor, LG, SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Naver during the visit.

Asked whether he had brought any gifts to South Korea, Huang responded with characteristic flair.

“Did I bring any gifts for Korea? I brought a lot of business for Korea,” he said. “I have some surprises.”

Nvidia’s dependence on South Korea has grown substantially as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix collectively produce roughly 70% of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in advanced AI processors, making them critical partners in Nvidia’s growth.

At a dinner in Seoul with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin, Huang emphasized the mutual benefits of the AI boom.

“We are all booming,” he told attendees.

“My friends here had a very good year, but this is just the beginning.”

He added that Nvidia’s next-generation systems would require substantial quantities of memory chips, reinforcing expectations that demand for Korean semiconductor products will remain strong for years.

That demand is already reshaping South Korea’s economy. The country’s semiconductor exports surged nearly 170% in May, reaching a record level and helping drive the strongest export growth seen in decades. Investors have rewarded the sector accordingly, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each surpassing the $1 trillion market-capitalization threshold amid the AI-driven rally.

However, the significance of Huang’s visit extends beyond memory chips. At Computex in Taiwan earlier this week, Nvidia highlighted robotics as a central pillar of its future strategy. The company sees physical AI, machines capable of perceiving, reasoning, and acting in real-world environments, as the next major computing platform after cloud AI.

South Korea’s advanced manufacturing infrastructure makes it an attractive proving ground for such technologies. Analysts have noted that factories, logistics networks, automotive production facilities, and industrial automation systems provide ideal environments for deploying AI-powered robots at scale. As companies seek to improve productivity amid labor shortages and rising costs, demand for intelligent machines is expected to grow rapidly.

Thus, Nvidia is expanding its footprint in South Korea beyond procurement and partnerships. Huang confirmed the company has begun recruiting for a research and development center in Seoul, signaling a longer-term commitment to the country.

He also addressed concerns about memory supply constraints, noting that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology are all producing HBM4 memory for Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin AI platform.

“All three vendors are in production, and they are all racing to support Vera Rubin,” Huang said.

“Of course memory is constrained and so we have to be smart about using it in all of our systems.”

The trip is believed to be a major mark of the growing ties between Nvidia and South Korea. As the AI industry evolves from training models in data centers to deploying intelligence throughout the physical economy, the relationship between the world’s leading AI chip company and one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing nations appears set to deepen further.

Japan’s digital minister has issued one of the starkest warnings yet from a major economy about the geopolitical risks of falling behind in artificial intelligence, noting that the country could become an “AI colony” if it fails to develop competitive domestic capabilities in the rapidly evolving technology.

Speaking on Friday, Japan’s Digital Minister, Hisashi Matsumoto, defended a controversial bill that would significantly expand the data available for AI training, saying the country faces an urgent need to keep pace with technological advances led by the United States and China.

“I hope many Japanese people understand that we need to press ahead with AI development, or we’ll end up becoming an ‘AI colony’,” Matsumoto said.

The comment captures a growing concern among governments worldwide: that artificial intelligence is emerging as a strategic technology capable of reshaping economic competitiveness, national security, and technological independence, much as industrial manufacturing, energy, and semiconductors did in previous eras.

Matsumoto’s remarks came as he sought to justify proposed amendments to Japan’s personal data protection law that would allow AI developers to train models using sensitive datasets, including medical and criminal records, without obtaining prior consent from individuals.

“The point of this change is that, with AI development moving so fast, Japan can’t afford to fall behind,” he said.

Supporters argue that access to larger and more diverse datasets is essential if Japanese AI developers are to compete with American and Chinese rivals that already benefit from enormous pools of training data.

However, some have warned that the proposal raises serious privacy concerns and could increase the risk of data breaches or misuse of personal information. The legislation passed Japan’s lower house last week and is currently under consideration in the upper house, where opposition parties have questioned whether adequate safeguards are in place.

The phrase “AI colony” reflects a broader fear that countries lacking domestic AI champions could become dependent on foreign firms for critical digital infrastructure, cloud services, AI models, and data processing capabilities.

Such dependence could have consequences extending beyond economics.

Governments increasingly view advanced AI systems as strategic assets that influence productivity, military capabilities, cybersecurity, healthcare innovation, and industrial competitiveness. Reliance on foreign providers could leave countries vulnerable to policy shifts, export restrictions, or technological decisions made outside their borders.

Japan’s concern mirrors debates taking place across Europe, South Korea, India, and other economies attempting to build indigenous AI ecosystems while still benefiting from partnerships with leading U.S. technology companies.

Japan’s two-track approach

Tokyo has pursued a dual strategy.

On one hand, Japan has strengthened cooperation with American technology leaders such as Microsoft and OpenAI under the broader framework of U.S.-Japan economic and security cooperation.

These partnerships have helped Japan secure access to advanced AI technologies, cloud infrastructure, and research expertise. At the same time, the government has increased support for domestic firms in an effort to avoid becoming entirely reliant on foreign platforms.

Companies receiving support include SoftBank, Sakura Internet, and a range of semiconductor manufacturers involved in expanding local computing capacity. Government support has come through subsidies, procurement programs, infrastructure investments, and regulatory reforms designed to accelerate AI development.

A global race for AI sovereignty

Japan’s concerns are part of a wider international push for what policymakers increasingly describe as “technology sovereignty.”

Countries that once viewed digital technologies primarily through a commercial lens now see them as strategic assets that warrant government intervention and industrial policy support.

Earlier this week, the European Union unveiled a technology sovereignty initiative aimed at strengthening domestic AI, cloud computing, and semiconductor industries while reducing dependence on foreign technology providers.

China has pursued a similar strategy for years, investing heavily in domestic AI firms, semiconductor manufacturing, and research institutions to reduce reliance on Western technology.

The United States, meanwhile, continues to tighten export controls on advanced chips and AI technologies, citing national security concerns while simultaneously supporting domestic AI infrastructure development.

Japan remains a global leader in robotics, manufacturing, and advanced electronics, but it has struggled to produce AI champions with the global scale of firms such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, or major Chinese AI developers.

Matsumoto’s “AI colony” warning suggests Tokyo sees the cost of inaction as potentially greater than the political risks associated with loosening data restrictions.