SK Group and NVIDIA have significantly expanded their long-standing relationship with a $500 billion-plus strategic partnership designed to accelerate artificial intelligence infrastructure worldwide. The agreement combines hyperscale AI factories, next-generation AI memory, and cloud infrastructure into a single long-term strategy that supports growing global demand for compute.
Announced during the AI Summit in San Francisco, the companies signed letters of intent covering AI factory construction, AI memory development, and cloud infrastructure expansion. The collaboration moves beyond individual hardware deployments and establishes a broader framework for building future AI ecosystems across the Asia-Pacific region.
The announcement also reinforces a wider industry trend. AI leaders are no longer investing only in GPUs or data centers. They are building integrated infrastructure platforms that combine compute, networking, memory, software, and cloud services into unified AI environments.
SK Telecom to Build 2GW AI Factory Using NVIDIA Vera Rubin
The centrepiece of the partnership is SK Telecom’s planned 2-gigawatt AI Cloud in South Korea, one of the world’s largest AI infrastructure projects currently under development.
The AI cloud will deploy NVIDIA Vera Rubin accelerated computing through the NVIDIA DSX platform, powered by SK hynix HBM4 memory. The first AI factory is scheduled to begin operations in 2027.
The facility will use NVIDIA’s DSX full-stack AI factory architecture, integrating accelerated computing, networking, software, systems, and partner technologies into one deployment platform. NVIDIA said the architecture is designed to deliver lower token-generation costs while maximising energy efficiency for increasingly demanding AI workloads.
Rather than supporting only cloud computing, the infrastructure will serve sovereign AI, enterprise AI, physical AI, and agentic AI applications throughout South Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific market.
The project also reflects NVIDIA’s strategy of delivering complete AI factory architectures instead of supplying hardware components alone.
SK hynix and NVIDIA Deepen AI Memory Partnership
Alongside the infrastructure announcement, SK hynix entered a long-term AI memory partnership with NVIDIA.
The agreement strengthens an existing technical relationship while providing NVIDIA with a more stable supply of next-generation AI memory. At the same time, it expands SK hynix’s position within the rapidly growing AI semiconductor market.
Both companies will jointly develop and optimize advanced AI memory technologies, including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). These technologies will support workloads ranging from large language model training to physical AI and agentic AI applications.
Memory has become one of the most critical components of AI infrastructure. Larger AI models demand higher bandwidth, lower latency, and greater efficiency. By collaborating on future memory platforms, both companies aim to optimize overall AI system performance rather than individual hardware components.
Integrated AI Infrastructure Becomes the Industry Standard
The partnership highlights how AI infrastructure is evolving beyond standalone technology investments.
Modern AI deployments increasingly require compute, networking, memory, software, and cloud infrastructure to work together as a unified platform. Consequently, companies are shifting from component-based strategies toward vertically integrated AI ecosystems.
For NVIDIA, the agreement expands adoption of its AI factory architecture while strengthening relationships across cloud infrastructure and semiconductor manufacturing.
For SK Group, the collaboration combines SK Telecom’s AI infrastructure expertise with SK hynix’s leadership in advanced memory, creating an integrated platform that spans cloud computing, semiconductor innovation, and large-scale AI deployment.
South Korea Strengthens Its AI Infrastructure Strategy
The agreement also reinforces South Korea’s ambition to become one of the world’s leading AI infrastructure hubs. The country already holds a strong position in semiconductor manufacturing and advanced memory technologies. Now it is expanding into hyperscale AI factories, sovereign computing, cloud infrastructure, and AI services. Governments worldwide increasingly recognise that AI competitiveness depends on owning the infrastructure supporting future digital economies. South Korea is positioning itself to become a leader across the entire AI value chain rather than focusing on one technology segment.
Speaking about the collaboration, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said: “In the AI era, competitiveness depends not just on how effectively AI is utilized, but on how much intelligence we can produce. By leveraging SK hynix’s AI memory and SK Telecom’s AI infrastructure capabilities, SK will collaborate with NVIDIA to build a world-class AI factory, helping Korea transcend its role as a leading adopter of AI and become a global hub that drives AI innovation.”
NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang added: “South Korea has all the ingredients to become a global AI powerhouse — world-class networks and data centers, leadership in chip technology and vast industrial scale. Together with SK Telecom and SK hynix, we are building a new generation of AI factories that will power Korea’s next wave of growth.”
The Bigger Picture for Global AI Infrastructure
The SK NVIDIA Partnership demonstrates that the next phase of AI competition will depend on integrated infrastructure rather than isolated technology advances. AI factories require far more than powerful processors. They also depend on advanced memory, high-speed networking, cloud platforms, software ecosystems, and energy-efficient infrastructure working together as a single operating environment.
As governments and hyperscale companies invest hundreds of billions of dollars into AI capacity, partnerships like this are becoming increasingly strategic. They accelerate infrastructure deployment while creating standardised platforms capable of supporting the next generation of AI applications. For the broader industry, the announcement signals a clear shift. Future leadership in artificial intelligence will be determined not only by who builds the fastest chips, but also by who delivers the most complete AI infrastructure ecosystem.
