Nvidia and SK Group Announce $500 Billion AI Infrastructure Partnership

Nvidia and South Korea's SK Group announced a strategic partnership valued at over $500 billion on July 24, 2026, formalized through letters of intent. The agreement will build industrial-scale AI computing infrastructure and secure next-generation memory supply chains, positioning South Korea as a sovereign AI hub.

AI Factory Construction

SK Telecom will construct a 2-gigawatt AI factory in South Korea using Nvidia's Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory platform. The first facility is expected to come online in 2027, marking one of the largest single commitments to AI infrastructure to date.

The term "AI factory" reflects a shift toward treating intelligence production as an industrial process rather than a software service. These facilities will house dense clusters of Nvidia GPUs optimized for continuous AI training and inference workloads.

Memory Partnership

SK hynix and Nvidia established a long-term agreement to co-develop and supply next-generation AI memory, including HBM4, for Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform. The partnership aims to reduce token costs and improve energy efficiency for AI services.

This collaboration extends a decades-long relationship between SK Group and Nvidia, leveraging South Korea's established leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and memory technology.

Executive Statements

"In the AI era, competitiveness depends not just on how effectively AI is utilized, but on how much intelligence we can produce," said Chey Tae-won, SK Group Chairman.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and CEO, said: "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."

Separate Announcements

Announced alongside but distinct from the SK Group deal, Nvidia, Naver, and Brookfield revealed a separate $10 billion AI factory partnership that will expand NAVER's DSX AI factory to 200 megawatts.

Strategic Context

The partnership comes amid surging global demand for AI compute capacity. By integrating SK hynix's memory technology with Nvidia's computing platforms, the companies aim to position South Korea as a hub for sovereign AI infrastructure and agentic AI services.

The $500 billion figure represents one of the largest technology infrastructure commitments announced in 2026, though primary sources have not detailed the precise calculation methodology.