Korean tech titans unite with Nvidia to shape next AI era

GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — US chip large Nvidia will provide 260,000 of its cutting-edge GPUs to the South Korea authorities and main conglomerates — Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group and Naver — in one of many largest AI infrastructure rollouts exterior the US.

The announcement got here Friday throughout a gathering between President Lee Jae Myung and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. Also current have been Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.

“South Korea’s goal is to become the epicenter of AI in the Asia-Pacific region,” President Lee stated. “We look forward to Nvidia’s partnership in building an AI ecosystem where infrastructure, technology and investment move in a virtuous cycle.”

The plan follows Thursday’s much-talked-about “chicken and beer” meetup amongst Huang, Lee and Chung, symbolizing deepening ties between the US chipmaker and Korea’s prime industrial leaders.

Under the initiative, the Korean authorities will obtain 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, whereas Samsung, SK and Hyundai will every get their arms on 50,000 models. Naver Cloud will function 60,000 GPUs to energy its hyperscale AI providers.

According to Nvidia, the GPUs will function the spine of next-generation AI factories — large information facilities designed to combine synthetic intelligence throughout manufacturing, logistics, robotics and mobility.

Samsung will use Nvidia’s Nemotron, Cuda X and Omniverse platforms to construct digital twins for chip manufacturing, enhancing yield and course of precision. It can also be growing residence service robots utilizing Cosmos and Isaac GR00T platforms, bringing “AI from the data center to daily life.”

SK Group plans to leverage the GPUs for AI-driven semiconductor manufacturing and cloud techniques, whereas its telecom arm SK Telecom will use Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell servers to energy sovereign AI networks for native industries.

Hyundai Motor Group, specializing in autonomous driving and robotics, will co-invest about $3 billion with the Korean authorities to advance “physical AI” — applied sciences that apply AI reasoning instantly to real-world techniques similar to autos and factories. The firm additionally signed a separate three-way deal with the Ministry of Science and ICT and Nvidia to increase Korea’s bodily AI ecosystem.

Beyond the economic deployments, Nvidia stated it should collaborate with the federal government and 5 Korean corporations — LG AI Research, Naver Cloud, NC AI, SK Telecom and Upstage — to develop sovereign giant language fashions utilizing its open-source Nemotron datasets.

LG AI Research may also work with Nvidia on robotics and cancer-diagnosis AI tasks, whereas in telecoms, the US agency will associate with Samsung, SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus, ETRI and Yonsei University to develop AI-native 6G applied sciences that enhance vitality effectivity and real-time connectivity.

In quantum computing, Nvidia and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information will collectively use the Cuda-Q platform on Korea’s Hangang supercomputer to advance hybrid analysis and practice scientists with its Physics Nemo framework.

Officials stated the collaborations will lay the groundwork for Korea’s next industrial leap — integrating AI throughout bodily infrastructure to improve effectivity, security and productiveness.

Samsung Electronics will set up a next-generation AI megafactory in partnership with Nvidia, embedding synthetic intelligence throughout all levels of its semiconductor manufacturing chain — from design and wafer processing to gear management and high quality assurance.

The AI platform will run on greater than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs, connecting and analyzing immense information streams to allow real-time prediction, analysis and optimization of producing circumstances.

“The Samsung AI Factory goes beyond traditional automation,” an organization official stated. “It connects and interprets vast data generated across chip design, production and equipment operations.”

Leveraging Nvidia’s Omniverse and Cuda-X platforms, Samsung will create digital twins of its fabs — digital replicas that simulate and optimize manufacturing eventualities earlier than bodily implementation. The firm may also apply cuLitho, Nvidia’s superior computational-lithography software program, to speed up chip patterning by up to 20 instances, considerably bettering yield and effectivity.

The mission builds on a 25-year partnership between Samsung and Nvidia that started with DRAM provide for early GPUs. Their present focus facilities on HBM4, a high-bandwidth reminiscence answer integrating Samsung’s sixth-generation 10-nanometer DRAM with a 4-nanometer logic base die.

Samsung can also be deploying Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell and Jetson Thor processors in its robotics and sensible manufacturing techniques, utilizing AI for predictive upkeep and autonomous operations.

The AI manufacturing unit mannequin might be rolled out throughout Samsung’s international community, together with its new semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, underscoring its ambition to dominate each key semiconductor section — reminiscence, logic, foundry and superior packaging.

“This marks a milestone in our journey toward AI-driven manufacturing leadership,” Samsung stated.

SK Group is partnering with Nvidia to set up a large-scale AI manufacturing unit outfitted with over 50,000 GPUs, designed to kind the spine of a nationwide “manufacturing AI cloud.”

The platform will strengthen Korea’s industrial competitiveness whereas providing AI-computing assets to startups and small producers. The initiative aligns with Nvidia’s broader mission to democratize entry to high-performance GPU computing.

At the forefront of the mission is SK hynix, which is able to combine digital-twin expertise throughout its semiconductor traces. By creating digital replicas of manufacturing techniques, SK hynix goals to enhance yield charges, allow predictive upkeep and cut back operational prices.

The group’s telecom affiliate SK Telecom may also work with Nvidia to develop next-generation AI-based wi-fi communication applied sciences that may deal with the explosion of knowledge from AI-powered gadgets, autonomous techniques and industrial robots.

SK hynix, which provides most of Nvidia’s HBM3 and HBM3E reminiscence chips, plans to leverage the collaboration to consolidate its place because the world’s main AI reminiscence supplier.

“This collaboration will strengthen SK’s AI manufacturing ecosystem and accelerate innovation across Korea’s industrial base,” the corporate stated, noting that the infrastructure will function a basis for AI-native provide chains and sustainable information processing.

Hyundai Motor Group and Nvidia will collectively make investments $3 billion to advance Korea’s bodily AI — a next-generation area the place AI interacts instantly with the bodily world via robotics, mobility and sensible factories.

The two corporations will set up an Nvidia AI Technology Center, a Hyundai Physical AI Application Center and a devoted information hub to domesticate engineers and increase joint analysis. Hyundai will deploy 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs to develop built-in AI fashions that join autonomous driving, robotics and manufacturing techniques.

“We are laying the foundation for an AI ecosystem that fosters innovation and talent,” stated Executive Chair Chung Euisun, emphasizing the function of AI in reworking mobility and manufacturing.

Nvidia CEO Huang stated AI “will revolutionize every facet of transportation,” from car design to logistics. Backed by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the partnership combines Hyundai’s industrial information with Nvidia’s GPU infrastructure to increase AI integration throughout Korea’s mobility and vitality sectors.

Using Nvidia’s GPU-powered AI manufacturing unit applied sciences, Hyundai goals to hyperlink in-vehicle intelligence, manufacturing unit automation and robotics right into a single interconnected ecosystem.

“Together with Hyundai — one of the world’s top mobility providers — we’re building intelligent cars and factories that will shape the future of the multitrillion-dollar mobility industry,” Huang stated.

LG Electronics is increasing its alliance with Nvidia to strengthen bodily AI, digital-twin techniques and smart-factory innovation. The firm has joined Nvidia’s complete AI platform ecosystem and is growing its personal humanoid AI mannequin based mostly on Isaac GR00T, Nvidia’s general-purpose robotics inference engine.

LG is making use of reinforcement studying and artificial information to practice robots utilizing its huge datasets drawn from equipment manufacturing, automotive parts and industrial techniques.

In manufacturing, LG is creating real-time digital twins of its international factories via Nvidia Omniverse and RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPUs. The techniques allow digital testing and optimization of kit configurations earlier than deployment, whereas AI-based monitoring identifies bottlenecks and defects in actual time.

LG can also be pursuing Nvidia certification for its AI data-center cooling models, important for managing the warmth output of high-performance computing clusters. The firm is working to combine its direct-current energy options and heat-recovery applied sciences into sustainable data-center ecosystems, decreasing vitality consumption and emissions.

“We aim to accelerate innovation in future technologies through strategic cooperation with Nvidia,” stated Yoo Eu-gene, head of open innovation at LG Electronics.

Meanwhile, LG AI Research, the conglomerate’s AI analysis hub, is increasing entry to its Exaone giant language mannequin via collaboration with Nvidia, providing Korean corporations and tutorial establishments larger AI computing functionality.

Naver Cloud, the cloud and AI subsidiary of Naver Corp., has additionally joined forces with Nvidia to develop a bodily AI platform that bridges real-world industries and digital techniques via AI, cloud computing and robotics.

During a gathering with President Lee and Nvidia CEO Huang, Naver founder Lee Hae-jin stated the partnership alerts “the opening of the physical AI era,” the place clever techniques instantly assist industrial operations.

“Naver will help businesses better use data and level up their industries with AI and cloud technologies,” Lee stated.

Under the memorandum of understanding, Naver Cloud will construct AI infrastructure tailor-made to Korea’s key sectors — together with semiconductors, shipbuilding and vitality — utilizing Nvidia’s Omniverse and Isaac Sim alongside Naver’s digital-twin and robotics platforms.

The mission kinds step one of Naver Cloud’s “Sovereign AI 2.0” imaginative and prescient, which goals to embed AI into nationwide industries and every day life, increasing past linguistic and cultural purposes.

“This partnership marks the start of the physical AI era, where AI meaningfully enhances productivity, safety and efficiency on the factory floor,” stated Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yoo-won.

By Jo He-rim ([email protected])

By Jie Ye-eun ([email protected])

By Kan Hyeong-woo ([email protected])