Nvidia expands AI relationships with Hyundai, Samsung, SK and Naver

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting South Korea for the first time in 15 years to unveil new plans and deepen cooperation with major Korean technology companies – including Hyundai Motor, Samsung, SK and Naver. During this week’s APEC 2025 summit, Nvidia and the South Korean government announced an expanded partnership to boost the country’s AI infrastructure and physical AI capabilities.

This announcement comes just days after the United States signed technology agreements with Japan and South Korea, aiming to deepen strategic relations and enhance cooperation in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, and sixth generation.

South Korea will secure more than 260,000 units of Nvidia’s latest GPUs to meet growing artificial intelligence (AI) requirements, the South Korean government announced on Friday. About 50,000 GPUs will support public initiatives, including the development of domestic AI core models and a national AI data center. The remaining 200,000 GPUs will go to companies such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor Group and Naver, leading innovation in AI-based manufacturing and developing industry-specific AI models.

Nvidia and Samsung collaborate on artificial intelligence factory and AI-RAN for 6G networks

Samsung also announced plans to build a massive AI factory in partnership with Nvidia, to bring AI to every stage of manufacturing semiconductors, mobile devices and robotics. Using more than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs and the Omniverse platform, the facility will form an intelligent network capable of analysing, forecasting and optimizing production in real time.

Samsung and Nvidia, partners for more than 25 years, are now collaborating on HBM4, a next-generation memory designed to power future AI applications.

Nvidia will work with Samsung, three Korean telecom companies – SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus – and ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) to co-develop AI-RAN, according to the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT.

AI-RAN combines mobile base stations with artificial intelligence to boost performance and reduce battery usage. Under a new agreement, Nvidia and South Korean industry and research institutions will jointly develop the next generation AI-RAN and a global test bed, the Korean government said.

In mid-October, Nvidia said Samsung Foundry would help create custom CPUs and XPUs, following its work with Intel to connect x86 CPUs directly to Nvidia platforms via NVLink Fusion.

Hyundai drives future mobility with its AI Factory

Meanwhile, Hyundai and Nvidia are working together to build AI infrastructure and develop technologies in the field of physical AI. The partnership plans to focus on autonomous mobility, smart factories, and robotics, while collaborating on sourcing and investing in high-performance graphics processing units.

According to Nvidia, the companies will use 50,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to train, validate and deploy integrated AI models, and will establish AI research centers in South Korea to boost the country’s physical AI industry.

“AI is revolutionizing every aspect of every industry, and in transportation alone — from vehicle design and manufacturing to robotics and autonomous driving — Nvidia’s AI and computing platforms are changing the way the world moves,” Huang said. “Together with Hyundai Motor Group – a Korean industrial powerhouse and one of the world’s top mobility solutions providers – we are building smart cars and factories that will shape the future of the multi-trillion-dollar mobility industry.”

SK builds AI cloud; Naver partners in physical AI

SK Group, parent company of SK Hynix, collaborates with Nvidia to build Asia’s first enterprise-led manufacturing AI cloud, leveraging Nvidia’s simulation and dual digital platforms and opening access to government, public enterprises and local startups.

Naver Cloud, the cloud arm of Korean search engine Naver, is collaborating with Nvidia to develop a next-generation “physical AI” platform that connects the physical and digital worlds. The cloud company intends to deploy its AI infrastructure across key industries, including semiconductor, shipbuilding, energy and biotechnology, with the aim of accelerating the adoption of AI solutions optimized for real-world industrial environments, according to Naver.

“Just as the automotive industry is moving to SDVs, the era of ‘physical AI’, where AI works directly within real industrial sites and systems, is emerging,” Hye-Jin Lee, founder of Naver, said in a Naver statement.

Nvidia’s collaborations with major Korean tech giants — from Samsung’s AI network initiatives to Hyundai’s software-defined vehicles, SK Group’s industrial AI applications, and Naver’s cloud and AI services — highlight a broader trend, which is the integration of AI and hardware across industries. These partnerships demonstrate how global technology leaders are joining forces to shape the next generation of intelligent systems.

Earlier this week, the US tech giant announced a wave of new partnerships with companies, including Eli Lilly, Palantir, Hyundai, Samsung, Uber and Joby Aviation, along with the US Department of Energy, as CEO Jensen Huang sought to play down concerns about an AI bubble. The news sent its stock soaring, with Nvidia becoming the first publicly traded company to surpass a market cap of $5 trillion.