SK Hynix Inc’s parent SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, and Nvidia Corp cofounder Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) met on Wednesday to discuss artificial intelligence (AI), suggesting the two companies are exploring ways to deepen one of the most important relationships in AI hardware.
Chey and Huang talked about areas including moving AI into the physical realm. The leaders discussed SK Hynix’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which work with Nvidia’s AI accelerators. The South Korean company has been quickening its pace of development to make sure it keeps up with Nvidia’s demands for faster evolution, Chey told reporters at the annual CES in Las Vegas.
SK Hynix has become a leading provider of essential memory to Nvidia during the post-ChatGPT AI boom, pushing aside longtime rival Samsung Electronics Co.
Photo: Bloomberg
Huang has discussed extending AI into more of the physical world to develop tools that can “proceed, reason, plan and act.” It would transform industries worth US$50 trillion, according to Nvidia.
Chey said he told Huang at their meeting that South Korea, a manufacturing powerhouse, is uniquely positioned to work with Nvidia on that front.
Both companies have benefited from the insatiable appetite that major companies and governments have for Nvidia’s chips, the gold standard for training AI algorithms.
SK Group is focusing on AI data centers to drive future growth, part of a strategy to transform South Korea’s second-biggest conglomerate into a technology-driven business.
SK Hynix’s exhibition at CES highlighted the company’s most advanced HBM chips — 16-layer HBM3E — as well as enterprise data storage solutions for data centers.
Separately, the Dutch government said it is holding talks with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc regarding support for the construction of an AI facility in the Netherlands.
The facility would focus on the development and application of AI with the help of a supercomputer, according to a statement yesterday.
“Discussions were held with Nvidia about the delivery of hardware and support with knowledge in creating the required infrastructure,” it said.
The announcement came as Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts is visiting the US to strengthen cooperation between the Netherlands-based technology firms and US companies.
The ministry did not provide a timeline or specific details for the construction of the facility.
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