NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, has stated that SK Hynix will remain the company's foremost memory partner.
On June 8th, NVIDIA and SK Hynix announced the signing of a multi-year technical collaboration agreement. This partnership will involve the joint development of next-generation memory for NVIDIA's AI (Artificial Intelligence) accelerators, as well as the expansion of AI infrastructure, including semiconductor fabrication plants and data centers.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commented, "AI factories are the engines of the next industrial revolution, and advanced memory is the critical cornerstone ensuring their performance. SK Hynix has been an outstanding partner to NVIDIA, playing a central role in supplying advanced memory technology for our AI computing platforms. By joining forces, we will co-develop next-generation memory for AI factories and help accelerate the global expansion of AI infrastructure."
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated, "SK Hynix and NVIDIA have been laying the groundwork for this for years, and this collaboration is the fruition of our deep and longstanding partnership. We will jointly develop next-generation memory for AI factories and apply AI technology to semiconductor design and manufacturing processes. This effort will profoundly reshape the future of AI infrastructure."
In interviews, Huang and Chey emphasized that their collaboration has deepened to a strategic level of "jointly formulating an AI development roadmap." Future cooperation will no longer be limited to SK Hynix's existing chip supply business but will extend comprehensively to more AI strategic projects under the SK Group umbrella, including AI frontier initiatives led by SK Telecom.
Huang noted that NVIDIA's newly announced next-generation AI computing platforms, including Vera Rubin, Vera CPU, the PC superchip RTX Spark, and the humanoid robot computing platform Jetson Thor, will all utilize chips from SK Hynix. He stated, "SK Hynix has been NVIDIA's largest memory partner and will continue to be our largest memory partner."
Concurrently, SK Telecom will collaborate with NVIDIA to build gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure. According to the plan, the first AI factory is scheduled to commence operations in South Korea in 2027, utilizing NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs and the Vera Rubin computing platform.
Huang added, "SK and NVIDIA are working closely to ensure the most advanced AI technology is produced in SK Hynix's fabs and used by SK Telecom." He also expects the partnership to last for many years, with the potential for further extension.
On June 7th, Huang dined with SK Group executives in Seoul. At that time, he indicated he sees no end in sight to the memory chip shortage, stating, "The entire industry supply chain, from wafers to packaging to silicon photonics... every link is in short supply because demand is so high. This situation will last for several years."
On June 5th, during an interview with foreign media in South Korea, Huang denied rumors that the company's chips would reduce usage of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). He also pointed out that the three major memory suppliers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology—will all provide HBM4 for NVIDIA's latest AI chips, having all passed qualification and entered mass production. He said they are "all racing to support the company's Vera Rubin architecture." Previously, Huang had indicated that Vera Rubin chips are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of this year.
Beyond SK Hynix, NVIDIA also announced a series of collaborations with several other prominent South Korean companies on the 8th. NVIDIA will assist South Korean internet giant Naver Corp in building AI cloud services and collaborate with Doosan Group in the robotics field.
Jensen Huang arrived in South Korea on June 5th for a four-day visit, his first trip to the country in seven months.
On the evening of the 5th, Huang dined at a Korean barbecue restaurant in Seoul with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and NAVER Board Chairman Lee Hae-jin. On June 7th, Huang held meetings at a PC bang (internet cafe) with executives from South Korea's two major gaming giants, KRAFTON and NCSOFT. On the 8th, Huang planned to hold a closed-door discussion with representatives from South Korean AI and robotics startups.
However, on June 8th, the South Korean stock market experienced a severe downturn. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plummeted immediately after opening, with early-session losses rapidly widening to 8.37%, hitting 7,477.46 points at 9:03 AM Seoul time. This triggered the Korea Exchange's Level 1 circuit breaker. The two major chip-weighted stocks, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both plunged approximately 10% in early trading.
Previously, on June 5th local time, the three major U.S. stock indices closed with significant collective losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 4.18%, marking its largest single-day drop since the tariff-related turmoil in early 2025. Chip and semiconductor stocks were hit hard across the board, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) seeing losses widen to 10% by the late session. This round of declines was driven by multiple factors, including weaker-than-expected guidance from Broadcom's latest earnings report, a sharp increase in interest rate hike expectations fueled by non-farm payroll data, and the impending IPO of SpaceX.
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