[Edaily Reporter SOYEON KIM ] Following the “pork belly dinner” between LG Corp. Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, the strategic partnership between the two companies is becoming even stronger. The two, who met in Seoul last June, reunited at NVIDIA’s U.S. headquarters just two months later to accelerate their concrete “Physical AI Alliance.” By expanding their areas of cooperation—from robotics to AI data centers and mobility—the two companies are translating their alliance into tangible business opportunities.

◇ LG Corp. and NVIDIA Strengthen ‘Physical AI’ Alliance
According to industry sources on the 15th, Chairman Koo met with CEO Huang at NVIDIA’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for strategic business cooperation.

Earlier, in June, Chairman Koo had dinner with CEO Huang—who was visiting South Korea at the time—at “Hyungnim Jeoyo,” a pork belly restaurant near Hongik University Station in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Chairman Koo, who rarely appears in public, visited Hongdae dressed casually for the dinner with CEO Huang.

The two enjoyed pork belly wraps accompanied by soju-beer (soju mixed with beer). The fact that a business leader chose a pork belly restaurant over a high-end dining establishment to project a down-to-earth image was viewed as an unprecedented move even within the business community at the time.

This meeting was more than just a “pork belly gathering.” The two companies subsequently fleshed out plans to collaborate on securing a leading position in physical AI. They expanded the scope of their collaboration to include new business models that would broaden LG Corp.’s future business portfolio.

On June 8, the two met at LG Corp. Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced their intention to define specific areas for future collaboration. This means they have presented concrete strategic initiatives in just about two months. At the time, CEO Huang stated, “One of the most important areas where we are collaborating is robotics,” adding, “We are also working with LG Corp. in the AI sector and on the construction of future data centers.”

CEO Huang also stated, “Today’s data centers are massive, reaching hundreds of megawatts (MW), but building the massive data centers of the future will require extremely advanced technologies—including cooling, power supply, and the overall design and construction of the data center.” He continued, “We are working together with LG Corp. like a single, massive team on everything from the robotics systems to the AI factories that NVIDIA is developing,” emphasizing, “There are many announcements we can share in the near future.”

Chairman Koo also remarked, “We had extensive discussions with NVIDIA about our future direction,” adding, “(CEO Huang) invited me to California. I plan to go there to discuss further collaboration.” The remarks made by the two at that time have now materialized through this MOU.

◇ Discussing Collaboration While Traveling Between Korea and the U.S. … Accelerating Commercialization
The two companies have been in discussions since last April to establish this strategic partnership. On April 23, Ryu Jae-cheol, President of LGELECTRONICS, and Madison Huang, Senior Director at NVIDIA and CEO Huang’s daughter, began collaboration talks at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul. Since then, technical teams from both companies have held workshops while traveling back and forth between Korea and the U.S., and CEOs of major LG Corp. affiliates have also participated to flesh out specific collaboration projects in physical AI.

The most notable area in this MOU is humanoid robots. LG Corp. plans to grow its robotics business through a two-track approach: bipedal humanoids and the wheeled robot “LG Cloid.”

In the first quarter of next year, the company plans to unveil a bipedal humanoid robot based on NVIDIA’s “Isaac GR00T.” LG Corp. is the first South Korean company to jointly develop a bipedal humanoid robot with NVIDIA.

The robot will be equipped with NVIDIA’s “Jetson Thor,” which handles on-board computing, inference, and control. It will also incorporate “Isaac GR00T,” an open-source humanoid foundation model, and “Halos for Robotics,” a safety system designed for robotics.

The project also brings together technologies from LG Corp.’s major affiliates. The strategy is to secure “One LG”-level competitiveness in physical AI by combining LGELECTRONICS’ actuators, LG Innotek’s sensors, and LG Energy Solution’s battery technology.

The wheeled humanoid robot “LG Cloid” will be deployed on the washing machine production line at the Tennessee plant in the U.S. by the end of this year. The company plans to expand its application beyond global production facilities to include homes and commercial spaces.

◇ LG Corp. Expands B2B Business Portfolio Based on Physical AI
AI factories are also a key pillar driving the expansion of LG Corp.’s future business portfolio. In the AI factory (AI data center) sector, the group is pooling the capabilities of its affiliates based on “DSX,” NVIDIA’s standard design platform.

The company will leverage LGELECTRONICS’ cooling technology, LG Energy Solution’s batteries, the design and operational capabilities of LG CNS and LG Uplus, and LS’s power solutions. This is a “package” strategy that extends beyond LG affiliates to include LS.

In the first half of next year, the company will establish an AI Factory reference site based on NVIDIA’s next-generation AI accelerator, “Vera Rubin.” Subsequently, in the first half of 2028, it plans to build an 80MW-scale AI Factory in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. The Cheonan AI Factory will be utilized for the advancement of physical AI and robot foundation models, among other applications.

Through this initiative, LG Corp. aims to secure integrated capabilities covering the entire AI factory lifecycle—from design to construction and operation—and plans to expand its business by packaging AI factory solutions for global big tech companies. The approach involves having global big tech companies validate the initially built AI factory infrastructure and, based on that, applying the AI factory solutions to future data center construction. This effectively lays the groundwork for expanding the AI factory into a new business-to-business (B2B) venture.

In the mobility sector, LG Corp. is expanding its business scope to include autonomous driving. By combining LG Corp.’s in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and automotive software capabilities with NVIDIA’s “Drive Hyperion” platform, the company is developing a next-generation AI-based high-performance computing (HPC) platform for vehicles.

This move is a strategic step to expand its existing IVI-centric automotive electronics business into the autonomous driving sector by leveraging NVIDIA’s autonomous driving technology and automotive computing platforms. The plan is to secure new growth opportunities in the mobility sector by supplying next-generation automotive solutions to global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).