Samsung and LG shares surge on expected Nvidia CEO meetings with Korean executives and AI chip developments

Samsung Electronics shares jumped 9.5%, lifting its market value above 2,000 trillion won ($1.32 trillion), while LG Electronics jumped 28%, as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to visit South Korea later this week to meet LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and other Korean executives.

Samsung Electronics started shipping samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip to customers, pulling ahead of rivals in distributing a new version of the product critical to AI data centers. Samsung's customers include major AI players like Nvidia.

South Korea's semiconductor exports surged to a record high in June on the AI boom, helping the country's total exports post their biggest rise in over four decades. Nvidia said last year that it will supply more than 260,000 of its most advanced AI chips to South Korea's government and some of the country's biggest businesses, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Group.