Nvidia CEO meets esports star Faker, calls South Korea 'birthplace of esports'

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang began his South Korea visit by meeting with legendary esports player Lee Sang-hyeok, known as Faker, at the T1 base camp in Seoul. Huang, a key figure in the AI semiconductor market, prioritized meeting the esports star before engagements with South Korean conglomerate leaders.

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Korea is the birthplace of esports. Korean game culture and gamers have played an important role in Nvidia's growth.

"Korea is the birthplace of esports," Huang stated during his visit. He emphasized that Korean gaming culture and its players have been instrumental in Nvidia's growth. Recalling his first visit to Korea when StarCraft was popular, he credited the nation for creating both esports and the culture surrounding its viewership.

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You are all highly skilled and have a strong desire for victory. That's why you chose the best GPUs, and that was Nvidia GPUs.

Huang presented Faker, who currently uses an RTX 4070, with Nvidia's new flagship graphics card, the GeForce RTX 5090, jokingly calling Faker's current card an "antique." He also gifted a limited edition RTX 5090 signed by both himself and Faker to a lucky fan.

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That's an antique.

The Nvidia chief also introduced his new AI PC platform, 'RTX Spark,' slated for release this fall. Later in the evening, Huang was scheduled to meet with top executives from SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Group, and Naver to discuss future collaborations in AI semiconductors, high-bandwidth memory, robotics, and physical AI.

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It might be worth a million dollars.