Nvidia and SK Group AI Collaboration Boosts Market, Korean Stocks Rebound Strongly After Circuit Breaker, SK Hynix Narrowing Losses to 1.5%

TradingKey - On June 8, Seoul time, the South Korean stock market plummeted in early Monday trading as concerns over U.S. interest rate hikes and a global tech sell-off spread; the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at one point plunged more than 8%, triggering a Level 1 circuit breaker. NVDA) along with SK Hynix and SK Telecom, announced several AI-related collaborations covering data centers, memory chips, and semiconductor manufacturing.

NVIDIA and SK Hynix to Jointly Develop AI Memory

NVIDIA and SK Hynix have announced a multi-year technical partnership, under which both parties will conduct joint research and development on next-generation memory required for the construction of global AI factories. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated that the partnership with SK Hynix will span several years and that SK Hynix will continue to be NVIDIA's largest partner.

According to the agreement, SK Hynix will develop specialized memory for NVIDIA's Vera Rubin AI supercomputer, Vera CPU, RTX Spark PC, and Jetson Thor robotics computing platform. Huang previously stated at Computex Taipei that the Vera CPU is a revolutionary processor specifically designed for AI agents and will be equipped with SK Hynix's DRAM chips.

Huang noted that the company procures billions of dollars worth of chips from SK Hynix annually, and procurement volumes will increase significantly this year. He also stated that NVIDIA's deal with SK Hynix will last for more than two years and has the capacity to be extended continuously.

SK Hynix shares stage strong intraday rebound

Market sentiment received a significant boost following the announcement of a multi-year AI factory collaboration between NVIDIA and SK Hynix, leading to a strong rebound in stock indices and a substantial narrowing of losses. As of press time, the KOSPI index's decline narrowed to 4.16%; SK Hynix saw its losses narrow to 1.59%, trading at 2.037 million won.

[Source: TradingView]

Samsung and Micron join Nvidia's supply chain.

Nvidia is also expanding its memory chip supplier base. On June 5, Jensen Huang confirmed that SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron ( MU) have all passed HBM4 qualification and will enter the mass production stage. HBM4 is the core memory chip for the Vera Rubin platform, which is already in full production and scheduled for delivery starting in the third quarter.

Huang also warned that the entire industry is currently facing severe supply bottlenecks: "From wafers to packaging to silicon photonics, every link is in short supply because demand is so high. This situation will persist for several years."

The partnership between Nvidia and SK Hynix also includes AI enablement in semiconductor manufacturing. SK Hynix will integrate Nvidia's accelerated computing platform and digital twin technology to enhance chip design simulation efficiency and fab automation levels.

The previous week, during Computex Taipei, Huang met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won for in-depth discussions on AI memory chip cooperation. Huang also plans to meet with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun on Monday to further discuss HBM supply matters.

NVIDIA and SK Telecom to Jointly Build "AI Factory" Data Center

On June 8, NVIDIA and SK Telecom signed an agreement to jointly build "AI Factory" data centers tailored for artificial intelligence tasks. The facility will be based on the NVIDIA DSX platform, aiming to construct gigawatt-scale AI cloud infrastructure.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated, "AI infrastructure is the electricity and water of the future." SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won noted that the collaboration between the two parties has expanded from the memory business to the entire group level.

The first AI Factory is scheduled to commence operations in South Korea in 2027 and will serve as a template for expansion into other parts of Asia. The data center will initially deploy NVIDIA Blackwell architecture GPUs, later transitioning to the Vera Rubin platform.