SK Telecom is to build a gigawatt-scale AI cloud in South Korea using NVIDIA’s DSX platform, with the first AI factory due online in 2027.
The telecoms operator and the US chipmaker announced the plans recently, describing the infrastructure as central to Korea’s ambitions in sovereign, physical and agentic AI.
The AI cloud will be built on NVIDIA’s DSX full-stack reference architecture, which combines accelerated computing, systems, software and partner technologies with the stated aim of lowering the cost per “token” – the basic unit of AI-generated output – while maximising energy efficiency.
Unlike general-purpose cloud providers, AI clouds are built specifically for GPU-based workloads spanning AI training, inference and agentic applications. SK Telecom’s facility will support training, inference and agentic workloads for companies and industries across Korea, with an ambition to expand into wider Asian markets.
The project builds on SK Telecom’s existing infrastructure and network expertise. At GTC Taipei, the company detailed work applying digital twins to SK hynix’s semiconductor fabrication plants using NVIDIA’s Omniverse libraries, aimed at optimising complex, large-scale manufacturing environments.
In April, SK Telecom said it had used open-source NVIDIA Nemotron datasets to train its A.X K1 model, as part of the South Korean government’s Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project.
As part of the collaboration, SK Telecom will also become an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, joining a global programme through which participants use NVIDIA’s infrastructure, software and developer ecosystem to deliver AI cloud services.
Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive of NVIDIA, said: “Telecom networks are becoming national AI infrastructure. They connect people, companies, devices and machines – and now they can become the backbone of new AI clouds. With NVIDIA DSX, SK Telecom can build Korea’s AI cloud at scale and bring agents, enterprise and physical AI to the companies and industries that power Korea and the world.”
Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, said: “Through our close partnership with NVIDIA, we have now secured full-stack AI infrastructure capabilities, from chips to data centre operations. We will work with NVIDIA to tackle GPU, memory and energy challenges and become a leading AI factory player shaping Asia’s AI ecosystem.”
NVIDIA and SK Group also announced plans to pursue joint research into next-generation AI factory architecture, extending their partnership beyond infrastructure deployment. The companies said they would focus on what they termed “silicon-to-grid” innovation, covering accelerated computing, memory technologies and data centre operations, alongside further projects on full-stack AI factory optimisation.
The announcement underlines the growing overlap between telecoms, energy and data centre construction as AI infrastructure scales globally, with gigawatt-level facilities increasingly framed as national assets rather than purely commercial ventures.
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