By Kwanwoo Jun
Nvidia is teaming up with leading South Korean technology companies to build large-scale artificial-intelligence infrastructure in Asia, seeking to solidify its data-center footprint and expand its AI ecosystem into robotics and other industrial sectors.
The string of deals comes as Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang makes his second visit to South Korea--home to global manufacturers of memory chips, autos, ships and robots--in less than a year, following a trip to Taiwan, another chip-manufacturing hub.
Mobile carrier SK Telecom said Monday that it and Nvidia are advancing plans for their first gigawatt-scale AI cloud services in South Korea, with the aim to expand into other parts of Asia.
The infrastructure project will combine Nvidia's platform and advanced graphics processing units with SK Telecom's network and data centers to create AI factories that generate tokens--the basic building blocks of intelligence derived from data. The first AI factory is expected to come online in 2027, according to the statement.
The deal reflects the deepening partnership between the U.S. AI chip leader and South Korean conglomerate SK Group, the parent of SK Hynix, a key supplier of high-bandwidth-memory products used in Nvidia's AI accelerators.
"Without SK's partnership, today's AI industry would not have developed as wonderfully as it has," Nvidia's Huang told reporters after meeting with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. "We're at the beginning of [the] AI infrastructure buildout. The future is quite bright."
SK Hynix separately struck a multiyear technology agreement with Nvidia on Monday to advance next-generation memory chips and accelerate semiconductor design and manufacturing.
"SK Hynix will continue to be Nvidia's largest memory partner," Huang told reporters. The U.S. AI chip company's new Vera central processing units will use SK Hynix's memory products, he said Sunday after dinner with Chey and other SK executives in Seoul.
Internet and cloud-computing company Naver on Monday said it will collaborate with Nvidia to build AI factories as part of the gigawatt-scale push. Huang and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin also discussed a concrete road map to jointly enter AI markets in Europe and the Middle East as well as the Asia-Pacific region, it said.
Naver, which developed a homegrown large language model, has played a central role in South Korea's efforts to advance sovereign AI.
Huang also held a series of meetings on Monday with executives from other major South Korean groups, including Doosan, LG and Hyundai, to explore future AI-related business opportunities with Nvidia.
After talks with Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Eui-sun, Huang said the combination of the carmaker's industrial capabilities and AI could accelerate the next evolution of AI, or robotics.
"No one is in a better position to take advantage of that and to create that than Hyundai. So, I'm very excited to partner with Hyundai across all of these different areas of artificial intelligence from mobility and robotics to AI factories," the Nvidia chief said.
Boston Dynamics, a Hyundai Motor Group affiliate, plans to deploy its Atlas humanoid robots at auto plants from 2028 and aims to produce 30,000 units globally each year. The auto group in February also announced a multibillion-dollar investment plan centered on physical AI in South Korea.
LG said after Chairman Koo Kwang-mo met with Huang that the two sides are expanding their strategic partnership, combining Nvidia's AI technologies with LG's manufacturing and infrastructure capabilities to accelerate AI adoption in everyday life and industry.
South Korea under President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June 2025 for a five-year term, has stepped up a national push for AI autonomy, seeking to become one of the world's major AI hubs with large related investments. The Lee administration, together with large local tech companies, including Naver and Hyundai, in October agreed to deploy over 260,000 advanced Nvidia GPUs for the AI infrastructure buildout.
President Lee on Sunday named Han Seong-sook, a former Naver chief executive and the country's minister for small businesses and startups, as prime minister. The presidential office said it expects Han to lead the country's continuing AI transformation and economic-growth efforts.
Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 08, 2026 07:13 ET (11:13 GMT)
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