NVIDIA and South Korea’s SK Group on Friday unveiled a more than $500 billion AI initiative spanning large-scale AI data centres and next-generation memory, NVIDIA said.
The initiative includes a long-term partnership with SK Hynix to secure a next-generation memory supply for Nvidia and to jointly develop high-bandwidth memory for AI training, AI agents, and physical AI applications.
Meanwhile, SK Telecom plans to build a 2-gigawatt AI data centre powered by Nvidia’s Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix’s HBM4 high-bandwidth memory, with the first facility due to come online in 2027, Nvidia added.
“South Korea has all the ingredients to become a global AI powerhouse — world-class networks and data centers, leadership in chip technology and vast industrial scale,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Together with SK Telecom and SK hynix, we are building a new generation of AI factories that will power Korea’s next wave of growth.”
Huang also told Bloomberg Television, “This is the golden age for Korea. Their semiconductor business is booming. Their industrial business is booming. You know, this is a country that has the ability to help the world build out the AI infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won noted, “In the AI era, competitiveness depends not just on how effectively AI is utilised, but on how much intelligence we can produce.”
“By leveraging SK hynix’s AI memory and SK Telecom’s AI infrastructure capabilities, SK will collaborate with NVIDIA to build a world-class AI factory, helping Korea transcend its role as a leading adopter of AI and become a global hub that drives AI innovation,” he further added.
Separately, Nvidia, Naver, and Brookfield plan to expand Naver’s AI data centre in South Korea.
South Korean President attends summit in Silicon Valley
The latest announcements, which build on existing partnerships with the two Korean companies, coincide with the nation’s leader’s visit to the US. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is attending events in Silicon Valley, and additional tech deals are in the works.
Speaking at the summit, Lee said South Korea would lead the way into a new era of AI in partnership with global technology companies, making its “dynamic AI ecosystem” available to expand the global market for industrial and personal AI use.
He unveiled a “San Francisco AI Declaration” that outlined South Korea’s AI ambitions for technological cooperation with the United States.
“I’d like to present a vision for the future of AI and propose global cooperation to make it happen,” Lee said.
Lee separately met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, before joining the summit.
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