Special Edition: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Investing in South Korea

2026-07-25 · Source: Bloomberg Tech · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Emerging Technologies & Innovation, Cloud Computing & IT Infrastructure · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, long

Summary

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced significant investments and partnerships in South Korea, declaring it the "golden ages for Korea" due to its booming semiconductor and industrial sectors. Nvidia is partnering with SK Group in a business deal exceeding \$500 billion, focusing on memory purchases and selling AI supercomputers for SK's planned 2 gigawatts of AI data centers. Additionally, Nvidia is investing \$1 billion in Naver, Korea's leading cloud provider, to scale its operations up to 200 megawatts and expand globally. Huang highlighted the need for the semiconductor industry to grow tenfold over the next decade to support AI agents and robots, acknowledging current supply chain constraints in HBM memories, land, and power. He also stressed the critical role of open AI models for safety, security, innovation, and sovereignty, contrasting them with closed models for specific use cases.

Key takeaway

For technology investors and strategists evaluating global AI infrastructure opportunities, Nvidia's substantial commitments in South Korea signal a critical growth region. You should consider South Korea's robust semiconductor industry and advanced technological adoption as key factors for future AI supply chain resilience and innovation. Furthermore, prioritize developing or integrating open AI models within your enterprise strategy to ensure control, security, and adaptability for specialized, regulated, or proprietary use cases.

Key insights

Nvidia's deep investment in South Korea underscores its pivotal role in scaling global AI infrastructure, necessitating massive semiconductor growth and advocating open AI models for security.

Principles

• The semiconductor industry must expand tenfold to meet future AI demand.
• Open AI models are essential for safety, security, innovation, and sovereignty.
• Distributed self-defense is crucial for AI system security.

In practice

• Invest in South Korea for AI infrastructure build-out.
• Develop open-weighted AI models for control and adaptation.
• Diversify AI models for robust self-defense capabilities.

Topics

• AI Infrastructure
• South Korea Investment
• High Bandwidth Memory
• Open AI Models
• Semiconductor Industry
• Supply Chain Constraints

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Bloomberg Tech.