A screeshot of a video shows Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (right) having dinner of Korean fried chicken and beer with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong (left) and Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Chung Eui-sun in Seoul, South Korea, on October 30, 2025. Photo: screenshot of video of Korea Now

Fried chicken-related stocks surged in South Korean market on Friday after photos, videos of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's casual dinner of Korean fried chicken and beer with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Chung Eui-sun on Thursday circulated widely on social media, according to several local media reports.

According to a video released by the Yonhap News Agency, the trio's Thursday evening gathering at Kkanbu Chicken in Seoul drew crowds and live TV coverage. Huang, dressed in his signature black T-shirt and leather coat, shared fried chicken with onlookers as seen in the footage.

"Kkanbu" is a Korean slang word meaning "close friend." The restaurant was widely known in South Korea after it was featured in the Netflix hit series Squid Games, according to the Korean Herald.

The three ate cheese balls, cheese sticks, boneless chicken and a fried chicken along with Korean beer Terra and the local rice spirit soju, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The meme-fueled hype quickly spilled into South Korean stock markets. 

Though Kkanbu Chicken is unlisted, share price of its rival Kyochon F&B Co. surged up to 20 percent on Friday, while poultry processor Cherrybro Co. soaring by the daily limit of 30 percent, with trading volume about 200 times its average, according to Bloomberg.

Shares of Neuromeka Co., a KOSDAQ-listed firm producing chicken-frying robots, also surged. 

However, these stocks declined after a brief surge on Friday.

Huang arrived in South Korea on Thursday to take part in the APEC CEO Summit and meet with a series of local and global business leaders in  Gyeongju, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

On Friday at the APEC summit, Huang met South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung, and announced Nvidia would provide more than 260,000 graphics processing units to South Korean companies, including those of his drinking buddies, according to a CNN report.

Huang said his company would work with Samsung and Hyundai, as well as local web giant Naver and chipmaker SK Group, to strengthen physical AI, such as by developing AI-driven autonomous vehicles, per media reports.

Global Times