Nvidia Strikes AI Infrastructure Deals With South Korean Tech Firms

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.

The string of deals comes as Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang makes his second visit to South Korea, home to the world's top memory-chip makers, in less than a year, following a trip to Taiwan, another chip-manufacturing hub.

Mobile carrier SK Telecom said Monday that the company and Nvidia have agreed to push for their first gigawatt-scale AI cloud services in South Korea and 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.

SK Hynix on Monday separately struck a multiyear technology agreement with Nvidia to advance next-generation memory chips for the global AI infrastructure buildout and accelerate semiconductor design and manufacturing.

Nvidia's Huang told reporters Sunday after having dinner with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and executives from SK Hynix and SK Telecom in Seoul that the U.S. AI chip company's new Vera central processing units will use SK Hynix's memory products.

South Korea's Naver is also joining Nvidia's global AI infrastructure initiative.

The internet and cloud-computing company said Monday that it agreed to cooperate with Nvidia on building AI factories as part of the gigawatt-scale initiative. Huang and Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin discussed a concrete road map to jointly enter AI markets in Europe and the Middle East as well as the Asia-Pacific region.

Naver, which developed a homegrown large language model, has played a central role in South Korea's efforts to advance sovereign AI.

South Korea under President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June 2025 for a five-year term, has stepped up its initiative for AI autonomy, seeking to become one of the world's major AI hubs with large related investments.

The Lee administration teamed up with local tech companies, including Naver, to purchase 260,000 of Nvidia's advanced GPUs to build AI infrastructure.

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 01:35 ET (05:35 GMT)