Nvidia clinches deals with South Korean giants including SK Group to advance AI boom - The Japan Times

Nvidia's recent series of agreements in South Korea with major tech companies including SK Hynix and Naver represents a strategic move to secure critical memory chip supplies for its AI ambitions. The... Read original →

Nvidia’s deep integration with SK Hynix and other Korean giants is a preemptive supply chain maneuver in the AI compute arms race. Technically, the dependency on HBM4 and next-gen CoWoS packaging compels GPU makers to secure memory capacity upfront—accelerating Chiplet adoption and pressuring TSMC and Samsung to scale advanced packaging. On compliance, U.S. export controls are pushing Korean firms toward a dual-track strategy: aligning with Washington while hedging via localization, though geopolitical friction may inflate inventory and logistics costs. Competitively, AMD and Intel will likely fast-track deals with Micron and CXMT to counter the Nvidia-Hynix axis. Over the next 18 months, AI chip competition will shift from raw performance to supply chain resilience, with regional clusters like Korea’s Gyeonggi AI semiconductor corridor emerging as critical infrastructure nodes.