Nvidia broadens ties with Korean firms during CEO's Seoul swing

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, standing with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, speaks to reporters at SK Group headquarters in central Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Nvidia has expanded its artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships with a broad range of Korean businesses during CEO Jensen Huang's whirlwind meetings with top business leaders in Seoul, laying the foundations for wide-ranging cooperation encompassing joint chip development, data center infrastructure and physical AI initiatives.

On Monday alone, Huang met SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, Naver Chairman of the Board Lee Hae-jin and other key figures in Korea's tech industries.

SK Group and Nvidia announced a long-term partnership spanning joint development of chips and AI infrastructure expansion. Unlike the previous relationship between the two sides, in which SK hynix stood as a major memory chip supplier, the new partnership aims for a broader collaboration across SK Group affiliates, including SK Telecom.

“We are securing a long-term agreement. We are co-designing our road maps together so that Nvidia's architecture and SK hynix's memory technology can advance together, allowing us to achieve the highest performance and the greatest value for the market,” Huang said. “SK and Nvidia are working very closely together to make sure that the most advanced AI technology is produced from SK hynix’s fabs and used by SK Telecom.”

Under the partnership, SK hynix will co-develop next-generation memory for Nvidia's AI computing platforms, including the Vera Rubin supercomputer, Vera CPU, RTX Spark AI PC and Jetson Thor humanoid robotics platform. SK Telecom will operate AI data centers, or AI factories in Nvidia's terminology, with a combined capacity measured in gigawatts, to help build an AI infrastructure network spanning Asia.

“The partnership encompasses not only SK hynix’s semiconductor fabs but also data centers and related infrastructure,” Chey said. “Also, we will share and jointly develop long-term AI research and development road maps with Nvidia.”

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, center, speaks during a media interview after meeting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, at LG Group headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Huang also met with the LG Group chairman and agreed to strengthen the two sides’ partnership in mobility, AI data centers, foundation models and physical AI.

LG Group said it will leverage Nvidia's AI technologies to build an intelligent autonomous manufacturing ecosystem. To support the effort, the two sides will jointly develop general-purpose robotics models based on Nvidia's Isaac GR00T platform and co-develop reference robots.

LG will also build an AI factory based on Nvidia’s DSX AI infrastructure platform, as well as collaborate on cooling solutions for thermal management, such as coolant distribution units and cold plates.

In mobility, LG Group plans to integrate Nvidia's DRIVE Hyperion autonomous driving platform with its in-vehicle infotainment capabilities to enhance next-generation advanced driver assistance systems and other AI-powered mobility solutions.

To support the effort, LG Electronics, LG Innotek, LG Uplus and LG CNS will each strengthen cooperation with Nvidia in their respective business areas.

“We had a very in-depth and inspiring discussion on strategic cooperation that will transform future industries,” Koo said. “The blueprint for the AI ecosystem envisioned by Nvidia aligns with LG’s future direction of creating meaningful changes in customers’ daily lives and global industrial sites.”

“With Nvidia DSX and physical AI platforms, LG can extend its leadership from homes and vehicles to factories and AI infrastructure, creating new growth opportunities across the intelligent systems that will shape daily life and industry,” Huang said.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, center, speaks after demonstrations of Hyundai Motor's MobED mobility platform with Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, left, at the group's headquarters in southern Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps

In the afternoon, Huang met Hyundai Motor Group’s Chung and took part in demonstrations of the group's future mobility and robotics technologies at the automotive group's headquarters in southern Seoul. The two focused their discussions on their ongoing projects involving robotics and physical AI projects.

“Today, we are uniting AI and Hyundai's expertise in mobility to transform the future of mobility and the future of robotics,” Huang said. “The next wave of AI is mobility and physical AI. This is the future where AI understands the world and can come out and do good work, productive work for the world. This is the time for Hyundai.”

Chung told reporters that he introduced Hyundai Motor Group's 9 trillion won ($5.86 billion) project to transform the Saemangeum area in North Jeolla Province into what he called an "AI valley" for AI and robotics development, and invited Nvidia to participate in the initiative.

When asked about Chung's proposal, Huang responded with humor, saying he would be happy to build Nvidia in Saemangeum “so long as there's excellent barbecue pork.”

Naver also reached a comprehensive partnership with Nvidia on sovereign AI infrastructure. Under the partnership, Naver plans to build a 55-megawatt AI factory in 2027 and expand its overseas AI infrastructure capacity to 200 megawatts by 2028 to meet growing global demand. Ultimately, the company aims to scale the infrastructure to the gigawatt level. The initiative will be based on Nvidia's DSX platform.

Naver also plans to use Nvidia's Nemotron 3 Ultra model to further fine-tune its proprietary HyperCLOVA X model. The model is also expected to serve as a platform supporting sovereign AI initiatives in Europe and the Middle East.

“This alliance is highly encouraging because it allows us to offer a tangible blueprint for countries and regions around the world seeking to build their own sovereign AI capabilities,” Naver’s Lee said.

A day earlier, Huang also met Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won, and the two sides announced their plans to advance physical AI and AI factory infrastructure.

Doosan agreed to expand cooperation with Nvidia across its key businesses, including energy, electronic materials and robotics. Under the partnership, products such as Doosan Enerbility's gas turbines and small modular reactors will be incorporated into Nvidia's DSX platform, while Doosan Robotics will use Nvidia's Isaac Sim platform to develop an agentic robotics operating system.