Jensen Huang’s Seoul trip yields major wins as Nvidia deepens ties with SK Hynix, Naver, and SK Telecom

The alliances will be geared toward addressing the growing need to accelerate computing across AI infrastructure, personal AI, and physical AI. Financial details have not been provided.

Jensen Huang’s camps on strategy in Seoul

Huang landed in Seoul on Friday after Computex in Taipei. He stressed the need to synchronize the AI supply chain in the second half of 2026, noting the success of the Grace Blackwell product and the full production of Vera Rubin.

In his comments to reporters, he mentioned significant opportunities in South Korea for robotics and physical AI, as well as the gaming industry.

According to reports, Huang’s itinerary included high-profile meetings with top business people, the honor of throwing the first pitch during the Doosan Bears match at Jamsil Stadium, in association with Doosan Group chairman Park Jeong-won, and a PC bangs tour in Gangnam. 

The T1 Base Camp stopover featured a special unveiling of RTX Spark with the then-current League of Legends world champions, which comprised the legendary Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, who had won the championship six times.

Other games, such as PUBG: Battlegrounds, Subnautica 2, Cinder City, and AION 2, were played during the event attended by executives of Krafton and NCSoft. Huang also visited Seoul National University for a Build-a-Claw event.

SK Hynix secures multi-year memory partnership for Nvidia platforms

On the other hand, SK Hynix, a subsidiary of SK Group, inked a long-term tech pact with Nvidia to develop next-generation memory technologies. The deal involves Nvidia’s four computing platforms that encompass artificial intelligence infrastructure, personal AI, and physical AI, and caters to servers, robotics, PCs, and supercomputers. 

Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, was present at the discussions with Huang. According to Huang, SK Hynix is Nvidia’s largest memory supplier and will remain its largest partner in that regard as well. This is a long-term association that can be extended in the future. 

According to Huang, Nvidia already procures and purchases from SK Hynix billions and billions of dollars worth of products each year, and it’s going to go up significantly. This collaboration aims to help both organizations address the challenges posed by increased demand for AI-related services.

Naver advances full-stack AI factory with Nvidia DSX

South Korea’s Internet firm, Naver, is constructing an end-to-end Nvidia AI factory on the Nvidia DSX platform. Huang met with Naver founder and chairman Haejin Lee to discuss the matter. Naver’s expansion of the GAK Sejong plant would increase generation from the current level of 55 MW to the gigawatt range.

Naver will deploy Nvidia’s technology to build AI data centers as one of the many measures announced. Such moves align with Nvidia’s efforts to broaden its market by moving beyond serving hyperscalers to regional AI builders.

SK Telecom targets gigawatt-scale AI cloud and ecosystem growth

As a result of the visit, SK Telecom will build a gigawatt-class AI Cloud in South Korea based on Nvidia’s DSX system. The first such AI data center is expected to launch in 2027. It will provide sovereign, physical, and agentic AI capabilities. This news was released by SK Group together with the SK Hynix agreement.

The partnership expands Nvidia’s footprint within South Korea’s industrial sector. Other joint initiatives comprise those undertaken by the LG Group to build an AI factory for robotics, self-driving cars, and manufacturing; by Hyundai Motor Group in mobility and physical AI systems; and by Doosan Group in robotics, power generation, and Blackwell chip materials. 

The company and its partners described them as integral to establishing AI ecosystems from memory manufacturing to applications. To that end, Huang dismissed concerns about recent volatility in chip stocks, stating that the future of AI remains very promising.