[Edaily Reporters Kim So-yeon, Park Min-woong, and Yoon Jung-hoon] SK Group and NVIDIA are elevating their relationship to that of strategic partners, moving beyond AI memory collaboration to jointly pioneer the next-generation AI infrastructure market. They have established a long-term AI alliance that extends beyond semiconductors to encompass data centers, cloud services, and AI factories. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang have met eight times over the past seven months, expanding the scope of their collaboration to encompass the entire future AI industry.

During a joint briefing with CEO Huang at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 8th, Chairman Choi stated, “While our cooperation has centered on memory so far, we will expand the scope of collaboration to the SK Group level going forward,” adding, “We will build a future ‘AI Factory’ together with NVIDIA.” He continued, “The AI Factory refers to the entire AI data center ecosystem, including SK Hynix’s semiconductor production facilities (fabs),” and added, “We will jointly establish and share an R&D roadmap with NVIDIA to respond to future changes in AI demand.” The AI Factory refers to next-generation AI infrastructure that continuously generates “tokens”—the core output of AI—based on power and data.

The two companies agreed to strengthen their long-term partnership by expanding AI data center construction and cloud businesses, as well as developing next-generation AI memory. They will utilize NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure from semiconductor design through manufacturing. Additionally, they will enter new markets pioneered by NVIDIA, such as AI infrastructure, personal AI, and physical AI.

CEO Huang emphasized the significance of the partnership, stating, “This large-scale partnership with SK is NVIDIA’s first collaboration model encompassing multi-year contracts, multiple platforms, and multiple technologies.”

SK Telecom plans to build AI-dedicated data centers optimized for AI training and inference based on NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure platform, ‘DSX.’ After validating the operational system domestically, the company plans to expand its business into the Asian market. It will also participate in ‘NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP),’ NVIDIA’s global AI cloud ecosystem program.

Naver has also decided to join the AI Factory joint venture. Starting with the launch of a 55MW (megawatt) infrastructure next year, the company plans to gradually expand its AI infrastructure business. Industry observers view NVIDIA’s successive partnerships with major Korean companies as a sign that it has designated Korea as a key hub for the construction and expansion of physical AI infrastructure.