Nvidia on Monday announced a series of deals in South Korea with tech giants including SK Hynix and Naver, as it looks to secure crucial memory chips to power its AI ambitions and entice new customers.
The agreements come during a high-profile trip by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to South Korea that began on Friday and has seen him dine on grilled pork belly and local spirit soju with the country's top corporate bosses, throw a baseball pitch and meet with a well-known gamer.
Nvidia and its partners, which also included SK Telecom and conglomerate Doosan Group, did not disclose the value of the deals.
SK Group, South Korea's second-largest family-owned conglomerate, said its SK Hynix and SK Telecom arms had agreed deals with Nvidia.
Memory chip maker SK Hynix signed a multi-year technology partnership that will see it commit to developing advanced types of memory for global AI data centers, SK Group said.
SK Hynix and Nvidia said the agreement, which comes as memory chip makers have been straining to keep up with demand, would enable supply to keep pace with Nvidia's plans, which have expanded to robotics, personal computers and AI supercomputers.
"SK Hynix has been Nvidia's largest memory partner. SK Hynix will continue to be Nvidia's largest memory partner," Huang said after a meeting with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at the headquarters of the chipmaker's parent.
Huang said the deal with SK Hynix, a rival to Samsung Electronics and US-based Micron Technology, was for more than two years with the option to keep extending.
"We already procure and we buy from SK Hynix already billions and billions of dollars each year, and it's going to grow substantially," he said.
Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said the SK Hynix-Nvidia partnership reinforced the view that memory chips were evolving from a commodity product into a more customer-specific business.
OTHER DEALS
SK Telecom said it would build a gigawatt-scale AI cloud in South Korea using Nvidia technology, with the first AI data center to come online in 2027. Nvidia said internet giant Naver and conglomerate Doosan would also use its technology to help build AI data centers.
Doosan, which is developing robots and makes materials used in Nvidia's most powerful Blackwell chips, said it expected its energy solution to be used in Nvidia's data center platforms and for it to use the US firm's physical AI technology as well.
Nvidia is also partnering with LG Group on electronics, mechanical systems and AI for humanoid robots, Huang said after a meeting with the tech conglomerate's Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
Huang said the pair were also working on the architecture of future data centers including cooling, power delivery and the entire design and building of the data centers.
SOUTH KOREA STOCK RALLY FALTERS
South Korea is an Asian manufacturing powerhouse, home to major producers of chips, electronics, cars and ships. SK Hynix and Samsung are the world's two largest makers of memory chips, which are key components in data centers.
The country's benchmark Kospi index has doubled in six months as heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung benefited from the AI wave, but dove almost 9% on Monday after robust US jobs data fanned bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this year and sparked a rout in global tech stocks.
Shares in Samsung and SK Hynix both plunged more than 10% in early trading before trimming some losses, with Samsung later down 4.6% and SK Hynix falling 0.6%.
When asked about the global chip stock rout, Huang waved off concerns, saying: "Everybody should be very excited; they can now buy stock at a cheaper price, and it's absolutely true that the future of AI is very bright."
Huang also told reporters after a fried chicken dinner with Chey on Sunday that he planned to meet Samsung's Jun Young-hyun, who leads the company's semiconductor business, on Monday. He will also meet with Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung on Monday afternoon.
