NVIDIA has announced that it has secured a supply of AI memory from South Korea's SK hynix, as the chipmaker moves to lock in critical components for its advanced processors and systems.
The deal, announced Friday evening in San Francisco, could be worth up to US$500 billion over several years, and includes the construction of a massive data center expected to come online by 2027.
As part of the agreement, SK hynix's affiliate, SK Telecom, will use NVIDIA's Vera Rubin system to build a cloud business. NVIDIA stated that the target capacity for this project requires 2 gigawatts of power, indicating a massive buildout involving hundreds of thousands of graphics processing units.
In a separate transaction, South Korean giant Samsung Electronics said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with chip design firm Broadcom to expand their collaboration on memory and foundry technologies. Samsung said in a statement that the deal, valued at approximately US$200 billion, will help support next-generation AI infrastructure.
With the AI boom creating a global memory shortage, NVIDIA is aggressively securing a supply of high-bandwidth memory, which is essential for its GPUs and systems. According to analysts, SK hynix is the leader in HBM production.
"This expansion will include co-development opportunities on next-generation SK hynix AI memory, which will help us secure a stable supply of HBM memory," said NVIDIA Vice President of Enterprise Raj Mirpuri during a conference call with reporters.
The agreement also signals that the massive buildout of AI infrastructure is moving beyond a handful of hyperscalers, with foreign governments and large conglomerates now getting involved.
The deal was announced during an AI summit in San Francisco, which was attended by South Korean officials, including President Lee Jae-myung.
NVIDIA also announced Friday that it would invest US$1 billion in Naver, a South Korean cloud company that is building data centers around its GPUs. NVIDIA said the project will provide opportunities for potential customers in South Korea and around the world to gain access to AI computing power before the 200-megawatt capacity is built.
SK hynix, the second-largest company by market cap in South Korea, listed on the Nasdaq earlier this month as part of its financing for the infrastructure buildout.
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