Nvidia, SK Group unveil $500bn-plus AI data centre and next-generation memory initiative
The US chipmaker and the South Korean conglomerate will collaborate on large-scale AI data centres, advanced memory supply, and a $1 billion investment into Naver’s expansion.
Nvidia and South Korea's SK Group announced a joint initiative on 24 July 2026 valued at more than $500 billion (€439.48 billion), targeting massive AI data centres and next-generation memory technologies.
The scale of the collaboration
The centrepiece of the deal is a long-term partnership with memory specialist SK Hynix. The two companies will secure the supply of next-generation memory for Nvidia's GPU platforms and jointly develop high-bandwidth memory (HBM) designed for AI training, AI agents and physical AI applications. Nvidia framed the pact as a vertical integration of the compute and memory layers that power its fastest-growing business segment.
A 2-gigawatt data centre footprint
SK Telecom, the SK Group’s telecom arm, will build a 2-gigawatt AI data centre – an energy footprint equivalent to roughly 1.5 million households, according to De Morgen – powered by Nvidia's Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix's HBM4 high-bandwidth memory. The first facility is scheduled to come online in 2027. Nvidia described the installations as “AI factories,” signalling a shift from conventional data centres to purpose-built infrastructure for large-scale model training and inference.
Naver expansion and Nvidia's $1 billion investment
Separately, Nvidia, Naver and Brookfield plan to expand Naver's AI data centre in South Korea. Bloomberg Business reported that Nvidia will invest $1 billion in the internet and cloud service provider, enabling Naver to more than triple the size of the facility under construction. The investment deepens Nvidia's presence in Korea’s domestic cloud market, where Naver competes with global hyperscalers.
Timeline for the rollout
- Nvidia and SK Group announce $500bn+ AI initiative and long-term HBM memory partnership.
- SK Telecom's first 2 GW AI data centre, powered by Vera Rubin and HBM4, expected to come online.
The initial disclosure on 24 July covered both the memory partnership and the infrastructure build-out. SK Telecom's data centre is the most advanced physical project, with a two-year runway until the first megawatt of capacity goes live. Memory co-development milestones and the Naver expansion timetable were not detailed, though the supply agreement with SK Hynix suggests production qualification of HBM4 will coincide with the Vera Rubin generation.
