Nvidia Forms $500 Billion AI Alliance with SK

Long-term HBM Supply Agreement with SK hynix

Nvidia has agreed to jointly develop next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) memory with SK hynix and secure a long-term supply. This move is seen as a proactive effort to secure a stable core supply chain following a surge in demand for AI semiconductors, which has led to a shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM).

Chairman Chey Tae-won and CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Yonhap News.

According to CNBC on the 26th (local time), Nvidia and SK Group announced a strategic partnership worth more than $500 billion (approximately KRW 720 trillion) in San Francisco, USA. The partnership covers the establishment of AI data centers as well as cooperation on next-generation memory.

The scale of this initiative includes not only the supply of memory chips from SK hynix, but also the large-scale AI data center construction being led by SK Telecom. SK Telecom plans to build an AI cloud business with a total capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW) based on Nvidia’s next-generation "Vera Rubin" system. The first facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2027.

2GW is a massive power capacity capable of operating hundreds of thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs). This is being regarded as an example of how AI infrastructure investment, once dominated by a handful of major U.S. Big Tech companies, is now spreading to foreign governments and large conglomerates.

SK hynix and Nvidia will jointly develop next-generation AI memory, including HBM, and establish a system for long-term supply. For Nvidia, this ensures a stable supply of HBM, which is critical for the performance of AI accelerators. For SK hynix, it provides the opportunity to participate in memory design from the early stages of next-generation Nvidia platform development.

As demand for GPUs soars in the wake of the AI boom, HBM has emerged as the main bottleneck in the global semiconductor supply chain. SK hynix continues to lead the HBM market and has secured its position as a key supplier to Nvidia.

On the same day, Samsung Electronics also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with American semiconductor company Broadcom to expand cooperation in memory and foundry fields. The two companies plan to co-develop and jointly supply memory and contract manufacturing technologies necessary for next-generation AI infrastructure.

Samsung Electronics expects the scale of this partnership to exceed $200 billion over the next five years through 2030. With the inclusion of both memory and foundry operations in the partnership, Samsung Electronics is seen to be seeking to expand its orders across the AI semiconductor supply chain.

Nvidia has also decided to invest $1 billion in Naver. This investment is aimed at participating in the domestic AI data center project promoted by Naver and global asset management firm Brookfield. Naver plans to initially build AI infrastructure with a capacity of 55 megawatts (MW) and later expand it to the gigawatt level.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.