Jensen Huang Wins Van Fleet Award; Lee Jae-yong and Chey Tae-won Also Attend
IT DAILY ·
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The Korea Society said on the 29th that it has selected Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, as the recipient of the 2026 Van Fleet Award.
The award recognized his contribution to South Korea-U.S. economic cooperation in AI and semiconductors, as well as his leadership and contributions in those industries.
The Korea Society said Huang has worked with SK Group, Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, Naver, LG Electronics, and Doosan, helping Korea establish itself as a major partner in global AI infrastructure.
The Korea Society said on the 29th that it has selected Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, as the recipient of the 2026 Van Fleet Award. The Korea Society is a nonprofit organization that promotes South Korea-U.S. relations. The Van Fleet Award is given to individuals and organizations that have contributed to the development of South Korea-U.S. relations.
The Korea Society cited Huang's contribution to South Korea-U.S. economic cooperation in the AI and semiconductor sectors as the reason for the award. It also pointed to his leadership and contributions in the AI and semiconductor industries as reasons for the selection.
The Korea Society said Huang has built ongoing cooperative relationships with SK Group, Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, Naver, LG Electronics, and Doosan. It said these partnerships have taken place in AI and semiconductors, key areas of South Korea-U.S. economic cooperation.
The Korea Society said Huang has contributed to Korea's positioning as a major partner in global AI infrastructure through such cooperation. The awards ceremony was held on the 28th at the society's annual gala in New York, with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in attendance.
The event was attended by Korea Society President Abraham Kim and Chairman Chey, and Chairman Lee and Chairman Chey congratulated Huang on the award. The three met again for the first time in about two months since an AI event in San Francisco in July.
Korea Society President Abraham Kim referred to Huang's leadership. He also mentioned partnerships between NVIDIA and Korean companies, saying they are shaping the future of the global technology landscape together.
Samsung Electronics marked Huang's award. The company aired a congratulatory video on billboards in New York's Times Square on the 27th and 28th.
Cooperation between NVIDIA and Samsung Electronics and SK is based on HBM supplies for AI accelerators. The scope of this cooperation is expanding to next-generation memory development and AI infrastructure building.
As the computing performance of AI accelerators improves, the importance of bandwidth for HBM used to supply large volumes of data to GPUs is increasing. The importance of power efficiency for HBM used to supply large volumes of data to GPUs is also increasing.
In developing next-generation AI accelerators, the importance of early-stage collaboration is increasing. The collaboration involves jointly optimizing GPU-HBM performance.
Samsung Electronics is developing HBM4E, the successor to HBM4. In March, Samsung Electronics unveiled HBM4E at NVIDIA GTC 2026 and presented its AI semiconductor capabilities spanning memory, logic design, foundry, and advanced packaging.
In May, Samsung Electronics began supplying major global customers with 12-stack HBM4E samples. Along with that, the scope of cooperation between Samsung Electronics and NVIDIA expanded to manufacturing sites.
Samsung Electronics plans to build an AI megafactory using more than 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs. The AI megafactory will target the development and production of semiconductors, mobile devices, and robots, and Samsung Electronics plans to link design, process, facility operation, and quality control in the semiconductor sector with an intelligent manufacturing system.
SK Group is expanding its cooperation with NVIDIA into AI infrastructure, centered on SK hynix memory and SK Telecom's data center business. In July, SK Group and NVIDIA announced plans to build an AI factory of up to 2 GW and to expand cooperation on next-generation AI memory. SK Telecom plans to introduce Vera Rubin systems based on NVIDIA's AI factory architecture, DSX, and to build and operate AI factories in stages starting in 2027. SK hynix HBM4 will be used in the Vera Rubin system.
SK hynix supplied 12-stack HBM4E samples to major customers in June, and SK and NVIDIA are pursuing long-term joint development and optimization cooperation on next-generation AI memory, including HBM. This shows a deepening connection between NVIDIA and Korean companies.
The Korea Society cited Huang's leadership in the AI industry and partnerships with Korean companies as the background for the award. This aligns with a trend in which technological cooperation among AI and semiconductor-related companies is taking on greater importance in South Korea-U.S. economic relations. In addition, the scope of cooperation between NVIDIA and domestic companies is expanding from memory supply to semiconductor manufacturing and AI data centers.
The Van Fleet Award was established to honor General James Van Fleet, commander of the U.S. 8th Army during the Korean War. Previous recipients include former President Kim Dae-jung, the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
Source: IT DAILY · Kim Byung-joo
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=241868
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Source: IT DAILY
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