SK Telecom and NVIDIA have announced a collaboration to build a gigawatt-scale AI cloud infrastructure in South Korea, with the first AI factory expected to commence operations in 2027.

This partnership is a key component of a broader strategic alliance between the SK Group and NVIDIA, signifying an expansion of their relationship from chip supply to encompass the entire AI infrastructure landscape.

The planned AI cloud will utilize NVIDIA's full-stack DSX reference architecture, incorporating multiple specialized AI factories dedicated to AI training, inference, and autonomous AI workloads.

Unlike traditional data centers, an AI factory functions as an intelligent facility that uses electricity and data as raw materials to continuously produce AI's fundamental units, known as tokens.

SK Telecom has joined the NVIDIA Cloud Partner Program and plans to sequentially adopt the NVIDIA Blackwell GPU platform, followed by the latest Vera Rubin platform, which is scheduled for availability in the second half of this year.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated that through this collaboration, the group has secured a comprehensive, full-stack AI infrastructure capability, spanning from chips to data center operations, and will work with NVIDIA to address core challenges related to GPUs, memory, and energy.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang noted that communication networks are evolving into national AI infrastructure, and SK Telecom will utilize the DSX platform to provide agent-based AI, enterprise AI, and physical AI services to leading companies and industries in Korea and globally.

In the realm of physical AI and robotics, the two companies are advancing digital twin technology based on the NVIDIA Omniverse platform, which is already being applied to SK hynix's semiconductor manufacturing processes.

Additionally, SK Telecom is leveraging the NVIDIA Cosmos robotics platform and the humanoid AI model Isaac GR00T to enhance its robot simulation and training platforms.

Following initial operational validation in South Korea, the AI factory is planned to be scaled up to gigawatt capacity and subsequently expanded across the broader Asian region.

This collaboration extends SK Telecom's business scope from a traditional telecommunications operator into the AI cloud services sector, marking a significant milestone in the group's "post-telecom" strategic vision.