Nvidia and KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) launch joint AI research lab in Seoul.

NVIDIA and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have launched a joint AI research lab in Seoul, the first such facility between a Korean university and a global technology company. Based at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, the lab will focus on agentic AI for South Korea, combining NVIDIA's AI models and cloud computing resources with KAIST's researchers through a multiyear funding and training commitment.

The lab announcement was part of a broader slate of agreements as South Korea accelerates investment in AI infrastructure, research, and industrial applications. The plans span data centres, memory, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and university-led research.

NAVER, Brookfield, and NVIDIA said they would expand NAVER's AI factory at the GAK Sejong data centre to 200 megawatts, deploying roughly 100,000 GPUs based on NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform—more than tripling the initial buildout announced earlier.

SK Group and NVIDIA unveiled plans for a comprehensive partnership worth more than USD $500 billion, establishing AI infrastructure to meet global compute demand using NVIDIA Vera Rubin systems with SK hynix HBM4 memory.

Hyundai Motor Group outlined a physical AI strategy centered on a robot reference platform developed with NVIDIA. The carmaker said the initiative extends a buildout that includes 50,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and will integrate NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion with Hyundai vehicle platforms.

Beyond the Seoul lab, NVIDIA and KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering are planning an NVIDIA AI Technology Centre focused on joint research, talent development, and knowledge exchange in physical AI, including projects using NVIDIA Nemotron open models. Seoul National University is also planning an NVIDIA AI Technology Centre covering AI research, education, and talent development across foundation models, accelerated computing, physical AI, and AI for science, with potential cooperation on AI infrastructure.

These university partnerships reflect South Korea's broader effort to deepen domestic AI expertise alongside major infrastructure spending and signal how foreign technology groups are seeking closer ties with Korean academic institutions as competition for AI research talent intensifies.

The business announcements accompanied meetings in San Francisco involving South Korean President Jae Myung Lee, NVIDIA Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, and senior corporate leaders from Korea and the United States. According to NVIDIA, discussions focused on South Korea's ambition to become a key hub in the global AI supply chain, from semiconductor manufacturing to infrastructure deployment and industrial use.

During his meeting with President Lee, Huang said: "From AI chips and physical AI to AI infrastructure, Korea has achieved remarkable results under your leadership over the past year. This is truly the beginning of a golden age for Korea."

"I hope this is only the beginning," Lee replied.

Other remarks at the summit underscored how deeply Korean groups are embedded in the AI supply chain. Executives highlighted the country's role in advanced memory, large-scale infrastructure, and industrial manufacturing as global demand for AI hardware continues to rise.

Huang linked Korea's semiconductor sector to the development of AI systems: "If not for the invention of HBM memory in Korea, NVIDIA wouldn't have been able to invent the supercomputers that power AI today. This really is the golden age for Korea."

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman told the group: "There really would not have been what we have, this incredible AI revolution, without Korea."

Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei described the country's position across multiple layers of the sector: "Throughout the stack, from semiconductors to infrastructure to an incredible concentration of talent."

The scale of the commitments announced with NVIDIA suggests South Korea is securing a larger share of the AI economy by combining its strengths in semiconductors, telecommunications, automotive manufacturing, and academic research. The new KAIST lab, the NAVER data centre expansion, the SK infrastructure partnership, and Hyundai's robotics and vehicle plans together represent a coordinated push to build both research depth and industrial capacity.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won offered a more direct view of demand during the summit, noting that Huang keeps asking for "more chips."