A fried chicken sparks the capital markets, a real estate deal rekindles market confidence, a transformation declares ambition, and inOctober2025, three tech giants reveal the future of survival in very different ways.
InOctober2025, the spotlight of the global technology industry shone on East Asia at the same time. Jen-Hsun Huang of NVIDIA, Jack Ma of Alibaba, and Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics, the three helmsmen, almost at the same time, wrote a new footnote to the global tech competition in the post-“mask” era with their striking new moves.
Their actions, while seemingly different, point to a common theme: building new competitive barriers in an uncertain world by strengthening core alliances, solidifying physical roots and betting on future technologies.
Jen-Hsun Hwang’s fried chicken bureau:
A meal that drove up thestock priceby 30%.
Behind the scenes are$500 billion inAIambitions
On a cool night in Seoul onOct.30, NVIDIACEOJen-Hsun Hwang’s signature black leather jacket appeared at afried chicken restaurantcalledKkanbu Chicken.
Sharing a beer and a good conversation with him were the men at the helm of two of South Korea’s industrial giants: Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Chung Eui-seon, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group.
Image source: United Morning Post, deleted
This seemingly relaxed“fried chicken and beer“dinner, instantly showed the amazing Hwang In-hoon’s“fascination effect“. The next day, the South Korean stock market and fried chicken-related concept stocks surged:
At one point, shares of Schoolcraft Village Restaurants soared20 percent;
Shares ofpoultry processorCherrybrotoucheda 30%halt on volume that was200timesweekday;
Even shares of Nurumica, which supplies fried chicken robots, rose more than17 percent.
However, the real centerpiece of this fried chicken feast is far more than a short-lived capital market frenzy. Huang Jen-Hsun carefully selected“Kkanbu”(meaning“close friend“in Korean), symbolizing his desire to form a solid“AIGangbu Alliance“with Samsung and Hyundai.During the meeting, he presented the two presidentswith a gift box ofAIcomputersprinted with NVIDIADGXand a handwritten card that read,“To our cooperation and the future of the world!“
Source: Caixin News Agency
Outside the restaurant, Jen-Hsun Huang revealed to the media the substance of the talks: deepeningcooperation onHBMstorage, fully automated driving systems, and humanoid robots, as well as exploring the prospects for chip foundry.
All of this, in the service of a larger goal,heannounced at theGTCtech conferencenot long ago, thatAIchips, such asBlackwellandRubin, may be able to bring inover$500 billion inrevenuethis year and next.
Signal Release:
Huang Jenxun’s trip to South Korea shows thatAIcompetition has entered the“ecosystem“duel stage.
NVIDIA is no longer content to be just a supplier, but to build an unrivaledAIempirethrough deep tie-ups with top manufacturing (Samsung) and application giants (Hyundai).
Image source: United Morning Post, deleted
Jack Ma’s Ali Group’s fixation:
HK$7.2billion for the Hong Kong headquarters.
Conveying market confidence
Earlier in the same month that Hwang Jen-hoon stirred up the South Korean capital market,on October17, Alibaba Group and Ant Group jointly announced that they hadpurchased a multi-story commercial office building at One Island Center in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, for a total ofHK$7.2billion, to serve as the headquarters of the two companies in Hong Kong.
Image source: Alibaba, Ant Group, Sina Finance, deletion
The transaction is thelargest office transaction in Hong Kongsince2021, involving a total gross floor area of approximately301,600 square feetat an average price of approximatelyHK$23,900per square foot.
Comparedwith HKEx’s previouspurchase of Exchange Square in Centralat aboutHK$43,000per square foot, Ali’s land purchase appears to be shrewd and pragmatic.
Alibaba Group Chairman Jonathan Tsai said in the announcement that the move“fully reflects the group’s confidence in Hong Kong’s economy and business environment“.Ant Group Chairman Jing Xiantong also said that this will be used as a basis to“attract top global talent and strengthen the local team“to support the globalization strategy.
Source: Sina Finance
The background to this decision is that Hong Kong’s Grade A office market is showing the first signs of recovery after several years of sluggishness. According to data from professional organizations,Hong Kong’s net absorption of Grade A office space turned positive in the third quarter of2025, but the overall vacancy rate still stood at17.2%.
Ali‘s “bottoming out“at this timeis not only cost optimization, but also a strong declaration of confidence. Coupled with the previous small red book, byte jumping and other mainland technology companies have also settled in Causeway Bay, a new business district driven by technology enterprises is being formed.
Signal Release:
After the early business split and structural adjustment, Alibaba isdeclaring its determination and strength of internationalizationbyconsolidating its physical assets.
TheHK$7.2billion purchase is not just a building, but a vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s future as an international innovation and technology center, marking a strategic shift for the Chinese tech giants from scale expansion to deeper roots.
Source: Internet, deleted
Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong’s big gamble:
Fully transformedAI-driven.
Competing forthe HBMtechnology high ground
Although it did notmake social news headlines in October, Samsung Electronics, a key party in Hwang In-hoon’s meeting,officially announcedits strategic commitment to transformingintoan AI-driven companyatits56thanniversary eventthat month.
Source: Caixin News Agency, deleted
At the heart of this transformation is the deepening of the partnership with NVIDIA.
The two companies plan to create a new“AI Megafactory”that will deploy more than50,000 NVIDIAGPUstoembedAIinto Samsung’s entire manufacturing process. A key focus of the collaboration will be the co-development of next-generationHBM4high-bandwidth memory, which is expected to deliver processing speeds of up to a staggering11Gbps, far exceeding the currentindustry standard of8Gbps.
Source: Internet, deleted
Lee Jae-yong knows that inthe age ofAI, high bandwidth memory (HBM) has becomea strategic resource as importantasAIchips. Whoever can master more advanced and efficientHBMtechnology will be able totake the initiative in theAIarithmetic race.
Through the alliance with NVIDIA, Samsung not only stabilized its leading position in the storage chip, but also tried to start a more intense competition with TSMC in the field of chip foundry.
Signal Release:
Samsung’s movement shows that traditional hardware giantsmustdeeply integrateAIinto their bloodlineif they don’t want tobe marginalizedin theAIera.
The alliance with Nvidia is the key to Samsung’s response to the restructuring of the global industrial chain, a“merger“around theunderlying technology ofAIarithmeticis being staged.
Source: Internet, deleted
Three major signals:
Insight into the next five years.
New rules for global competition in science and technology
The actions ofHwang Jen-Hsun, Ma Yun, and Lee Jae-Yong inOctober intertwined a clear picture of the future, releasing three major strategic signals that cannot be ignored.
Signal one: technology“alliance“instead of“fighting alone“
The fried chicken alliance between Hwang Jen-Hsun and Lee Jae-Yong is aperfect combination of“AI+manufacturing+application“. The future competition is no longer company to company, but ecosystem to ecosystem. Companies must find their core value points in the future ecosystem and take the initiative to build or integrate into a strong alliance network.
Signal 2: Strategic“materialization“to support“virtual growth“
Jack Ma’s decision to purchase a HK$7.2billion building forthe Ali Groupsignals a shift from the pursuit of purely virtual economic expansion to theequalization and coupling of virtual and physical assets.Against the backdrop of increasing geopolitical and market uncertainty, solid real assets are the ballast for addressing risks and demonstrating confidence.
Signal 3:Coexistence of“fanization“and“valorization“ofcapital
The phenomenon ofJen-Hsun Huang’s30%stock priceincrease over a single mealrevealsthe short-term impact of“fanatical investment“in the age of social media.
But at the same time, Ali’s big asset purchases and NVIDIA’s$500billion technology investment representcapital allocation based on long-term value. These two forces will go hand in hand, testing the wisdom of market participants.
Image source: Daily Economic News, deleted
Conclusion:
These three moves of the tech giants have already landed. Jen-Hsun Huang built hisAIfriendship circlewith a meal of fried chicken, Jack Mainjected a shot in the arm for the Hong Kong marketwith7.2billion Hong Kong dollars, and Lee Jae-yong led the giant ship of Samsung to fully turn tothe AI-driven deep sea.
Their actions together tell us that in the future business world,the solo traveler is fast, and the multitude traveler is far. Only through the deep integration of cutting-edge technology, entity foundation and strategic alliance can we stabilize and go far in the magnificent global competition.
*References from: Caixin News Agency, Xiaoxiang Morning Post, Sina Finance, United Morning Post, Daily Economic News, Alibaba, Ant Group, comprehensive news reports, reprinted with attribution, infringement and deletion of contact.
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