NVIDIA’s CEO lays out Korea as a premier partner for the AI era, highlighting joint work on AI infrastructure and AI factories during a Korea AI ecosystem event.

The partnership aims to broaden access to NVIDIA GPUs and AI infrastructure for Korea’s entire economy, including SMEs and academia, not just large firms.

Officials frame the visit as a turning point in Korea’s AI strategy, shifting from hardware-focused manufacturing to wide-scale AI deployment across manufacturing, mobility, robotics, and digital services, with a goal of becoming a global AI leader.

Digital twins will connect legacy software and agentic AI workflows to enable AI systems to reason over fab data, automate tasks, and improve manufacturing decisions.

The project uses the NVIDIA DSX full-stack reference architecture to minimize token costs and maximize energy efficiency from chips to data centers.

The deal is a comprehensive design-and-manufacturing partnership spanning chip architecture, infrastructure buildout, and product diversification, with initial deliveries expected in the third quarter of 2026.

The developments unfold amid broader tensions over a global memory chip shortage driven by AI infra investment, strengthening profits for SK hynix and Samsung Electronics, with possible labor-cost discussions around Samsung’s bonuses.

Collaboration focuses on accelerating semiconductor design and simulation using CUDA-X libraries and NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo to enable faster design and computational lithography workflows.

Market context shows SK hynix stock movement and NVIDIA shares fluctuating, reflecting a dynamic AI stock landscape.

The collaboration targets shorter AI development cycles and lower capital expenditures for building AI factories, enabling faster deployment of AI infrastructure.

SK Hynix plans to double wafer production capacity over the next five years to meet AI-driven demand from the partnership, signaling supply constraints in the near term.

Ambitious capacity expansion by SK Hynix aims to support growing AI memory needs, according to company leadership.