NVIDIA Expands Investments in Four Startups, Deepening Ties with South Korean AI Startups

AI Startup Partnership Forum
Discusses Technology Cooperation with More Than 20 South Korean Startups

NVIDIA is strengthening its cooperation with South Korea's AI startup ecosystem by announcing a series of investments in local AI startups.

A robot makes a heart at the Build-a-Claw program booth at NVIDIA AI Day Seoul 2026, which opened on the 9th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News.

NVIDIA held the AI Startup Partnership Forum on Nov. 9 at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in partnership with the Ministry of Science and ICT. Lee Do-gyu, director of the ministry's ICT Policy Office, and key NVIDIA executives attended and discussed ways to cooperate with more than 20 South Korean startups in foundation models, physical AI, AI infrastructure, and AI semiconductors.

At the event, NVIDIA announced an investment in Point2 Technology, a South Korean AI startup. The company is developing scalable radio frequency (RF)-based interconnect technology that transfers data between semiconductor chips and racks (server cabinets) in AI factories. Its technology provides the transmission distance, performance, and efficiency needed to scale AI clusters, supporting next-generation AI infrastructure.

NVIDIA is also planning additional investments in Motif Technologies, Realworld, and Upstage. Upstage is developing the large language model (LLM) Solar and document AI tools, and building AI applications that help businesses extract information from complex documents and streamline work processes. Upstage is expected to receive investment from NVIDIA in its ongoing second Series C funding round.

Alongside NVIDIA's investment announcement, Motif Technologies said it had completed fundraising for the development of a next-generation foundation LLM and had begun work on the model in earnest. NVIDIA is expected to invest in the current bridge round alongside existing investors. The company plans to release Motif 4, the successor to its flagship model Motif 3, which it unveiled in August, in the first quarter of 2027.

Realworld is a physical AI startup developing foundation models for humanoid and industrial robots.

Despite Madison Huang's Absence, South Korean AI Startups Discuss Substantive Cooperation with NVIDIA Vice Presidents

Kim Nokwon, CEO of DeepX, speaks with Jonathan Cohen, vice president of applied research at Nvidia, at the AI Startup Partnership Forum held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 9th. Courtesy of DeepX.

Although NVIDIA Senior Director Madison Huang's absence somewhat diminished the event's public profile, some attendees said it was worthwhile because they discussed concrete cooperation plans with NVIDIA vice presidents responsible for practical technology development. "At the AI Startup Partnership Forum, we focused on low-power semiconductors needed to implement physical AI and on building a software ecosystem," said Kim Nokwon, CEO of DeepX. "We will work to help South Korea build a full-stack AI ecosystem and to lead the world in low-power semiconductors, which are essential to the commercialization of physical AI." DeepX is developing neural processing units (NPUs) for edge AI that run AI with low power consumption on devices such as robots and drones.

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