Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang announced sweeping technology partnerships with two of South Korea's largest conglomerates on Monday, signing a multi-year deal with memory chipmaker SK hynix and agreeing to collaborate with LG Group on humanoid robots and next-generation data centres. The announcements came during a high-profile visit to Seoul in which Huang met with the heads of major South Korean industrial groups to explore cooperation across artificial intelligence and robotics.

At SK Group's Seoul headquarters, Huang described the agreement with SK hynix — one of the world's leading producers of advanced memory chips — as "a very significant and long-term partnership." The two companies will jointly develop technology road maps and co-develop memory systems for Vera Rubin, Nvidia's next-generation flagship AI platform, which the company says is now in full production with deliveries expected to begin in the third quarter of this year. SK hynix, alongside Samsung Electronics and US firm Micron Technology, already supplies HBM4 — a high-bandwidth memory component critical to the Vera Rubin system. The deal is designed to extend collaboration well beyond traditional memory development, with SK hynix set to broaden its presence in personal AI and physical AI sectors. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the partnership represents a step change: "Most of our cooperation so far has centered on memory, but from now on we will elevate our partnership to a higher level."

At a separate meeting at LG Group's headquarters in western Seoul, Huang outlined a different but equally ambitious agenda with LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. Nvidia and LG will work together on motor technology and mechanical systems to advance humanoid robotics, while also collaborating on the architecture of future data centres — including cooling systems, power delivery, and overall facility design. "We are working to build future data centers together," Huang said. Koo said the discussions ranged broadly across the directions that AI development is likely to take, adding that significantly more cooperation between the two companies would be needed going forward.

The back-to-back announcements underscore South Korea's central role in the global AI supply chain. The country is home to two of the world's three dominant producers of high-bandwidth memory — a component that has become indispensable for powering large AI systems — and its industrial conglomerates, known as chaebols, possess deep manufacturing expertise in electronics, robotics, and engineering. For Nvidia, locking in long-term supply and co-development agreements helps secure the components it needs as demand for AI infrastructure continues to accelerate. "We are in the beginning of the AI revolution," Huang said, describing the long-term outlook as "extremely promising."