Nvidia unveils AI infrastructure deals with South Korea

US chip titan Nvidia announced on Monday a raft of artificial intelligence deals in South Korea, where booming business for semiconductor companies is fuelling debate over how much of the profits go to workers.

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, unveiled with SK Telecom a “gigawatt-scale” AI data centre construction project, with the first facility set to come online in 2027.

It will support “AI services for enterprises and industries across Korea, with the vision to expand to greater Asia regions”, the companies said.

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, unveiled with SK Telecom a “gigawatt-scale” AI data centre construction project, with the first facility set to come online in 2027

No figure was given for how much the pair will invest in the data centres, or for other new tie-ups that Nvidia touted with the likes of Naver, LG Group, Hyundai and Doosan Group, including on AI robotics.

The deals were unveiled after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spent the weekend eating barbecue and fried chicken with the country’s tech leaders in Seoul and appearing on a popular TV show.

Nvidia also said it would work with chipmaker SK hynix to develop advanced memory components that are needed to run AI systems but are currently in short supply.

Their “multi-year technology partnership” will “sustain the global buildout of AI factories” by supporting supply for advanced memory chips, they said.

Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at Omdia, told AFP that Nvidia’s new deals were “about strengthening existing relationships and further validating South Korea’s role in the global AI supply chain”.

Governments and companies are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure, creating a global memory chip shortage.

That has sent profits skyrocketing for manufacturers such as SK hynix and rival Samsung Electronics, whose union recently agreed a deal with management on bonuses.

The chair of SK Group, parent of SK Telecom and SK hynix, vowed last week to double production capacity of the silicon wafers used to make memory chips.

But Chey Tae-won also reiterated his prediction that shortages could persist until 2030.

Huang signed a memory chip display at the SK hynix booth at last week’s Computex trade show in Taipei, writing: “Please make more.”

Asked in Taipei about the labour dispute at Samsung, Huang said companies should pay workers “as much as possible”.

Under the union deal, struck to avert a strike, around 60 percent of Samsung’s domestic workforce is eligible to receive a bonus of roughly $330,000 this year, based on a market estimate of operating profit.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung weighed in on Monday on the debate about how to share the gains from AI-driven growth.

The topic is “very difficult” but “an unavoidable reality” in the AI era, Lee told reporters, adding that it will eventually require international discussion.

“If the operating profit margin exceeds 75 percent, does it belong solely to the company?” Lee said.

He asked whether workers, investors, the state that has invested heavily in research and development, and taxpayers who supported it also deserve a share.

However, Lee cautioned that any attempt to redistribute excess corporate profits could discourage investment.