Nvidia's Dealmaking Streak Continues With Chip Tie-Upgrades in South Korea — Update
By Kimberley Kao
Nvidia has struck a spate of deals with some of South Korea's biggest companies that will see more than a quarter-million of its chips deployed across the country.
The tie-ups with Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group and other Korean industrial giants were announced Friday as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited South Korea to attend a summit.
The batch of partnerships is part of the South Korean's government push to build out its artificial-intelligence capacity, and continues a dealmaking streak by the U.S. chipmaking giant that has helped it become the first company ever to have a $5 trillion market value.
In one of the newly announced collaborations, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm will team up with Samsung to build an AI factory.
Samsung said the "megafactory" would use over 50,000 of Nvidia's graphics processing units, embedding AI throughout its manufacturing flow to accelerate production of semiconductors, mobile devices and robotics.
Shares of the South Korean electronics giant gained on the news, finishing 3% higher in yet another stock jump sparked by Nvidia deal news.
Nvidia is also planning AI factories with Hyundai and Korean conglomerate SK Group, which has businesses across sectors from chemicals to telecommunications. The first phase of SK Group's AI factory is due to be completed by late 2027.
The Hyundai-Nvidia tie-up will focus on AI capabilities for autonomous vehicles, smart factories and robotics, and building regional AI data centers. The firms will work closely with government stakeholders to develop an ecosystem for the technology that "will result in an approximately $3 billion investment," Nvidia said in a statement.
The announcements come as countries race to build an edge in AI.
Technological self-reliance was at the heart of China's latest economic development plan, while a Japan-U.S. investment cooperation factsheet earlier this week outlined billions in investment projects that focused heavily on AI.
South Korea's government under President Lee Jae Myung has designated the AI sector as one of the economy's new growth engines, and set the goal of becoming one of the world's top three AI hubs.
According to the announcement from Nvidia, the Korean government, through the Ministry of Science and ICT, is investing in sovereign AI infrastructure, including the deployment of over 50,000 of the company's latest GPUs.
Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 31, 2025 05:31 ET (09:31 GMT)
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