Nvidia and South Korea’s SK Group have announced a strategic partnership valued at more than $500 billion to expand AI infrastructure, combining large-scale AI data center development with a long-term agreement to secure next-generation memory for Nvidia’s AI platforms.
The initiative was unveiled during an AI summit in San Francisco attended by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate on AI factory construction, deployment of Nvidia’s next-generation computing platforms, and development of advanced memory technologies for AI applications.
A key element of the partnership is a long-term agreement between Nvidia and SK Hynix to secure supplies of next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM), while jointly developing and optimizing future AI memory technologies.
The companies said the collaboration will focus on next-generation AI memory solutions, including HBM, for workloads ranging from large language model training to agentic AI and physical AI applications.
“The expansion will include a co-develop opportunity for us on the next-generation SK Hynix AI memory, and this will help us secure a stable supply of HBM memory,” Raj Mirpuri, Nvidia enterprise vice president, said during a call with reporters.
Nvidia has been moving to secure supplies of HBM as demand for AI computing has tightened the availability of advanced memory. Industry analysts identify SK Hynix as the leading producer of HBM, making the partnership a significant supply agreement for Nvidia.
AI Data Centers Planned for 2027
The agreement also calls for SK Telecom to build a 2-gigawatt AI data center in South Korea using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin accelerated computing platform and DSX AI factory architecture powered by SK Hynix’s HBM4 memory.
The first AI factory is scheduled to come online in 2027.
Nvidia said the planned 2-gigawatt capacity indicates a deployment that could require hundreds of thousands of graphics processing units.
According to the companies, the AI factories will support sovereign AI, enterprise AI, agentic AI, and physical AI applications while helping address growing demand for AI computing across the Asia-Pacific region.
The partnership also enables SK Telecom to expand AI infrastructure while providing broader customer access to AI cloud services through Nvidia-powered systems.
AI Investment Extends Beyond Cloud Providers
The announcement comes as investment in AI infrastructure expands beyond traditional hyperscale cloud providers, with governments, telecommunications companies, and industrial groups increasing their involvement in large-scale AI projects.
Separately, Nvidia announced a $1 billion investment in South Korean cloud company Naver to support the expansion of AI data centers powered by Nvidia GPUs. The company said the project will allow customers in South Korea and other markets to secure AI computing capacity before the planned 200-megawatt capacity is completed.
Reuters also reported that Nvidia, Naver, and Brookfield plan to expand Naver’s AI data center operations in South Korea.
South Korea’s AI Ambitions
“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,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said. “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.”
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the partnership would strengthen South Korea’s AI capabilities.
“In the AI era, competitiveness depends not just on how effectively AI is utilized, but on how much intelligence we can produce,” Chey said, adding, “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.”
Separately, Samsung Electronics said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom to expand collaboration across memory and foundry technologies. Samsung said the agreement, estimated to be worth about $200 billion, is intended to support next-generation AI infrastructure through closer cooperation on advanced memory and semiconductor manufacturing technologies.