At a high-profile AI summit in San Francisco, NVIDIA and SK hynix finalized a monumental agreement valued at up to $500 billion, marking one of the largest commitments in the AI infrastructure sector. This strategic partnership will grant NVIDIA opportunities to co-develop SK hynix’s next-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), a critical component for advanced AI systems, ensuring a stable resource supply that addresses a key industry bottleneck.
Additionally, NVIDIA pledged to support SK Telecom, an SK hynix affiliate, in constructing a new 2-gigawatt data center complete with Vera Rubin system technology, further solidifying its role in South Korea’s expanding AI ecosystem. The deal expands NVIDIA’s influence beyond chip supply into data center development and operations.
In a related move, NVIDIA announced a $1 billion investment in Naver, a South Korean cloud infrastructure provider deploying data centers equipped with NVIDIA GPUs. This investment underscores the growing synergy between semiconductor technology and cloud computing in AI deployment.
Beyond NVIDIA’s deals, Samsung and Broadcom inked a separate Memorandum of Understanding valued at $200 billion, aimed at extending collaboration on advanced memory and foundry technologies. This partnership, extending through 2030, centers on Samsung’s cutting-edge 2-nanometer process and below, targeting enhancements in wireless broadband communications and AI silicon with advanced packaging solutions like 2.3D and 2.5D integration for improved performance and power efficiency.
These agreements align with South Korea’s national ambition to double its memory capacity by 2030. The government supports this vision as Samsung and SK hynix develop massive fabrication facilities in the southwestern region near Gwangju and Jeolla. Samsung plans to operationalize its P5 Fab 1 by mid-2027, followed by additional fabs in Yongin by 2029. Meanwhile, SK hynix aims to launch its Yongin Y1 fab in early 2027 and Y2 in the latter half of 2028.
The summit concluded with a relaxed “family dinner” hosted by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, which included top representatives from NVIDIA, Broadcom, Microsoft, Samsung, Hyundai Motor, and Naver. President Lee emphasized the collaborative spirit by referring to attendees as “family.” A lighthearted moment occurred when NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang humorously requested "one more beer," only to be reminded that the government official footed the bill and had limits.