At the APEC CEO Summit, NVIDIA said it is working with public institutions and private companies to build sovereign AI infrastructure across South Korea. The plan includes hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs across sovereign clouds and AI factories for sectors such as automotive, manufacturing, and communications.
“South Korea’s leadership in technology and manufacturing places it at the center of the AI industrial revolution, where accelerated computing infrastructure is as important as the power grid and broadband,” said Jensen Hwang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Just as South Korea’s physical factories have inspired the world with sophisticated ships, automobiles, chips and electronics, the country can now produce intelligence as a new export that will drive global transformation.”
“Now that AI has gone beyond mere innovation and become the foundation of future industries, South Korea stands at the threshold of transformation,” said Bae Kyung-hoon, South Korea’s vice prime minister and minister of science, information and communications technology.
The government plans to deploy up to 50,000 new NVIDIA GPUs to support sovereign AI programs for businesses and research groups. The first phase will include 13,000 NVIDIA Blackwell and other GPUs through providers such as NAVER Cloud, NHN Cloud, and Kakao. This expansion includes efforts to build a national AI computing center. Startups, researchers, and other organizations will be able to use this sovereign infrastructure to train models and build new applications.
NVIDIA is also working on AI-RAN and 6G network research with Samsung, SK Telecom, ETRI, KT, LGU+, and Yonsei University. This effort focuses on moving some computing tasks from devices to network base stations, which could reduce battery drain and reduce computing costs across Sovereign AI services.
Major companies build sovereign AI factories
South Korea’s largest companies are investing in advanced AI infrastructure for chip production, network operations, and digital manufacturing tools that support the country’s sovereign computing goals.
NVIDIA and Samsung plan to build a new AI factory that will combine chip manufacturing with high-speed computing. The system runs more than 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs and supports data-driven production methods such as predictive maintenance and process improvement across the chip fab.
“We are at the dawn of the AI industrial revolution, a new era that will redefine how the world designs, builds and manufactures,” said Jensen Huang. Jay Y. Lee, Executive Chairman of Samsung Electronics, added, “We are excited to continue our long-standing commitment to working with NVIDIA to lead this transformation, from Samsung’s DRAM for NVIDIA’s revolutionary graphics cards in 1995 to our new AI factory.”
Samsung plans to use the NVIDIA CUDA-X library and software from Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens to speed up circuit design and manufacturing workflows. We also use NVIDIA Omniverse to create digital twins of factories and facilities for real-time simulation, testing, and logistics planning, all of which support broader sovereign AI adoption.
NVIDIA’s cuLitho library is integrated into Samsung’s computational lithography tools. This collaboration significantly improved performance and supported faster scaling of chip production.
Samsung has also developed large-scale language models that run on hundreds of millions of Samsung devices to support translation and other inference tasks. The company plans to expand into robotics with its NVIDIA Isaac Sim, NVIDIA Cosmos, and Jetson Thor edge platforms, which could strengthen its position in sovereign AI systems.
SK Group expands AI capabilities
SK Group is building an AI factory containing over 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027. This facility will support SK subsidiaries and external customers through the provision of GPU-as-a-service in line with Korea’s sovereign AI strategy. NVIDIA and SK are also collaborating on the development of next-generation high-bandwidth memory for GPUs.
“SK Group is working with NVIDIA to make AI the driving force for large-scale transformation, enabling industries across South Korea to transcend traditional limits of scale, speed, and precision,” said Chey Tae-Won, Chairman of SK Group.
SK Telecom plans to build an industrial AI cloud using NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs. The platform supports semiconductor manufacturing, digital twins, and internal AI agents.
SK Hynix uses NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo tools to support chip design simulations, aiming to improve accuracy and speed. We are also using Synopsys software to test NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and build autonomous fab digital twins.
To support employees, SKT is developing a foundational model called AX built on NVIDIA NIM microservices and NVIDIA AI Enterprise. This model powers in-house agents that support thousands of employees throughout chip development and operations.
Hyundai Motor Group plans new AI factory
NVIDIA and Hyundai Motor Group are expanding their partnership to support autonomous driving, factory automation, and robotics. Hyundai plans to build an AI factory that uses NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for integrated training, simulation, and deployment.
“AI is revolutionizing every aspect of every industry. From car design and manufacturing to robotics and self-driving, and just in transportation, NVIDIA’s AI and computing platforms are transforming the way the world moves,” said Jensen Huang.
The companies expect to jointly invest approximately $3 billion to expand the nation’s physical AI capabilities. The plan includes an NVIDIA AI Technology Center, Hyundai’s Physical AI Application Center, and a new data center. These programs aim to help develop a new generation of AI talent.
Hyundai uses NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise to build a digital twin of its factory to support virtual testing, robotic integration, and predictive maintenance. NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor will also be used for in-vehicle AI systems, including driver assistance and infotainment features.
Growth of sovereign AI models
NAVER Cloud plans to deploy over 60,000 GPUs for sovereign AI and physical AI work. The company plans to build industry-targeted models for areas such as shipbuilding and public safety.
The Ministry of Science, Information and Communication is also leading the Sovereign AI Foundation Models project using NVIDIA NeMo and open Nemotron datasets. Partners include LG AI Research, NC AI, SK Telecom, and Upstage. These models support language and reasoning tasks.
LG is collaborating with NVIDIA on physical AI research and will support startups and researchers using the EXAONE model, including healthcare applications.
Quantum and science research
KISTI plans to use NVIDIA accelerated computing on its sixth national supercomputer, HANGANG. The institute supports NVQLink, an open architecture for connecting quantum processors and GPU clusters. You will also use NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo to develop scientific foundational models and explore physics-based AI tools.
NVIDIA and local partners form a startup alliance through the NVIDIA Inception Program. Members will have access to accelerated computing resources from cloud partners such as SK Telecom, along with support from venture companies. NVIDIA will also participate in the Ministry of Small Business and Startup’s N-Up AI Startup Incubation Program.
(Photo provided by NVIDIA)
See: AI migration from Nvidia to Huawei: Opportunities and tradeoffs
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