Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang is visiting South Korea for the first time in fifteen years to announce major collaborations with leading Korean technology companies, including Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK Group, and Naver.
During this week’s APEC Summit 2025, Nvidia and the South Korean government unveiled an expanded partnership aimed at strengthening the country’s artificial intelligence infrastructure and advancing “physical AI” capabilities. The deal comes shortly after the United States signed new technology agreements with Japan and South Korea to deepen cooperation on emerging technologies such as AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, and 6G.
Under the agreement, South Korea will acquire more than 260,000 of Nvidia’s latest GPUs to meet rising AI demand. About 50,000 of these will support public projects, including domestic AI foundation models and a national AI data center. The remaining 200,000 GPUs will be distributed among major corporations such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai, and Naver to drive AI-based manufacturing and industry-specific model development.
Samsung Electronics announced plans to establish an AI Megafactory in partnership with Nvidia. The facility will integrate AI into every stage of semiconductor, mobile, and robotics production using more than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs and the company’s Omniverse platform. The two companies, which have collaborated for over 25 years, are also working together on HBM4 — Nvidia’s next-generation high-bandwidth memory designed for advanced AI systems.
Nvidia will additionally partner with Samsung, SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) to co-develop AI-RAN, a network technology that merges mobile base stations with AI to boost performance and reduce power consumption.
Hyundai Motor Group and Nvidia will establish AI research centers and use 50,000 Blackwell GPUs to enhance autonomous mobility, robotics, and smart manufacturing systems. Huang said the partnership will help build “intelligent cars and factories that will shape the future of the multitrillion-dollar mobility industry.”
SK Group, the parent company of SK Hynix, will collaborate with Nvidia to build Asia’s first enterprise-led AI manufacturing cloud using simulation and digital twin technologies. Naver Cloud, meanwhile, plans to work with Nvidia on a next-generation “Physical AI” platform that connects industrial operations to digital systems, targeting applications in semiconductors, energy, shipbuilding, and biotechnology.
Nvidia’s latest collaborations reinforce the growing convergence of AI and hardware across global industries. Earlier this week, the company announced similar partnerships with Eli Lilly, Palantir, Uber, Joby Aviation, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Nvidia’s stock has surged following the announcements, making it the first publicly traded firm to surpass a $5 trillion market capitalization.
