Nvidia joins forces with SK Telecom, NAVER in South Korea AI expansion

US chip giant Nvidia announced Monday a series of artificial intelligence infrastructure partnerships in South Korea, including a plan with SK Telecom to build a gigawatt-scale AI cloud in the country.

SK Telecom plans to use Nvidia’s DSX platform for the project, with the first AI factory expected to come online in 2027, Nvidia said in a statement.

The infrastructure is intended to support sovereign, physical, and agentic AI services for enterprises and industries across South Korea.

The company said the AI cloud will be based on Nvidia’s full-stack reference architecture, combining accelerated computing, systems, software, and partner technologies to improve time to production and energy efficiency.

“Telecom networks are becoming national AI infrastructure,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said in the statement, adding that the project would help SK Telecom build Korea’s AI cloud at scale.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the partnership would give the group full-stack AI infrastructure capabilities, “from chips to data center operations,” according to the statement.

Nvidia and SK Group also plan to expand cooperation into joint research on next-generation AI factory architecture, focusing on accelerated computing, memory technologies, and data center operations.

NAVER to expand AI infrastructure

In a separate announcement, Nvidia said South Korean internet company NAVER will expand sovereign AI infrastructure using the Nvidia DSX platform, starting with 55 megawatts and later moving toward gigawatt scale.

The project will begin with an expansion of NAVER’s GAK Sejong data center, which Nvidia described as a next-generation hyperscale facility designed to support the company’s AI and cloud services.

NAVER will also use Nvidia’s full-stack AI platforms, models, and software to advance regional AI models, including next-generation HyperCLOVA X models, its Seoul World Model development, and agentic AI services, Nvidia said.

The latest announcements come as South Korea seeks to strengthen its position in the global AI and semiconductor supply chain, while local chipmakers benefit from demand for advanced memory and data center components.

The AI boom has also intensified debate in South Korea over how semiconductor profits should be shared with workers, after recent labor discussions at major chip companies focused on bonuses and profit-sharing linked to record earnings.