Samsung, SK Group seal $950bn deals as South Korea hosts AI powers

South Korea unveiled a package of AI initiatives worth a combined $950 billion on July 26, 2026, anchored by deals between SK Group, Samsung Electronics and multiple US technology firms as global AI leaders race to secure memory and chip supply. SK Group signed agreements totalling $750 billion, including a partnership between SK Hynix and Nvidia valued at more than $500 billion, while Samsung Electronics signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom covering up to $200 billion across memory chips, foundry services and advanced packaging.

Direct quote

“I’d like to present a vision for the future of AI and propose global cooperation to make it happen,” President Lee Jae Myung said at an AI summit in San Francisco, where he unveiled a “San Francisco AI Declaration” outlining South Korea’s ambitions for technological cooperation with the United States.

Context and deal details

The largest component of the announcements is the SK Group–Nvidia initiative, described as a $500 billion programme to build large-scale AI data centres and next-generation memory supply chains. The partnership includes a long-term supply relationship between Nvidia and SK Hynix to jointly develop high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI training, AI agents and physical AI applications.

• SK Telecom plans to build a 2-gigawatt data centre powered by Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix’s HBM4 memory, with the facility scheduled to be online in 2027.
• Samsung Electronics and Broadcom agreed on a memorandum of understanding covering up to $200 billion focused on memory chips, sub-2-nanometer foundry process, advanced packaging and development of Broadcom’s next-generation AI accelerator based on Samsung’s HBM technology.
• SK Group’s total announced commitments amount to $750 billion within the broader $950 billion in new AI initiatives from the South Korean government and private sector.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won warned that demand for memory from AI customers is accelerating beyond prior expectations. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, the next time I see (Huang), he’ll tell me those figures were too low and say, ‘I want more,’” Chey said, referring to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Chey added that Broadcom CEO Hock Tan had told him the company’s memory demand was likely to surpass available supply, and that Anthropic was “regularly checking on future chip availability” as it expands from model development to building computing capacity.

Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei declined to elaborate on reports the company may be exploring custom chip design, but confirmed the firm had signed supply deals with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. An Anthropic spokesperson said the company was exploring options and drawing on a range of chips “for a diversified approach to computing.”

Outlook

The announcements reflect South Korea’s strategy to position its semiconductor and memory suppliers at the centre of the next wave of AI infrastructure investment. Key industry figures present at the summit included Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin, and President Lee also held meetings with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Broadcom’s Hock Tan.

President Lee is scheduled to attend a Silicon Valley meeting between South Korea’s National Pension Service and US venture-capital firms to encourage further investment in South Korean startups. The state-backed push follows earlier announcements of three major projects anchored by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, featuring more than $576 billion in investment to build semiconductor clusters, physical AI ecosystems and AI data centres.