Nvidia eyes role in Hyundai-backed AI Valley project

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met in Seoul on Monday and discussed potential cooperation on the proposed Saemangeum AI Valley project in North Jeolla Province.

During a brief media encounter later that day, Huang suggested Nvidia could join the Saemangeum AI Valley project, proposed by Chung, potentially through investments in AI infrastructure, data centers and R&D.

Hyundai announced in February this year that it would participate in the 9 trillion won ($5.9 billion) state-led project, which aims to establish an advanced manufacturing hub powered by AI, robotics and hydrogen energy.

Huang said Korea has become one of the world’s leading AI nations, making it a “logical” location for Nvidia to establish an AI and robotics research center. He also emphasized the need for large-scale AI infrastructure, saying future robotics development will require AI factories and data centers to serve as the “brains” of autonomous machines, creating significant investment opportunities.

Earlier in the day, Huang toured the newly renovated lobby of the company’s Seoul headquarters in Yangjae, Gangnam, with Chung, where the automaker has deployed five service robots: ACR-H, a self-charging robot for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles; DAL-e Gardener, for watering plants; DAL-e Delivery, for in-building beverage delivery; Spot, a quadruped security robot developed by Boston Dynamics, Hyundai’s US-based robotics subsidiary; and the MobED mobility robot platform.

Notably, the Spot robot greeted Huang and requested his security pass as part of a demonstration of its security-check capabilities.

Chung also introduced Kia’s PV5, the group’s first Platform Beyond Vehicle. Huang examined the vehicle as Chung explained how the all-electric van can be reconfigured for different purposes depending on customer needs.

Other executives attending the event included Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chair Chang Jae-hoon; Park Min-woo, president and head of the group’s advanced vehicle platform division; Kim Heung-soo, the group’s global strategy officer; and Madison Huang, senior director of product marketing for Omniverse and robotics at Nvidia.

Before a closed-door meeting with Hyundai executives, Huang delivered a brief speech to staffers, highlighting the companies’ strengthening partnership.

“Today, we are uniting AI and the expertise of Hyundai in mobility to transform the future, to transform the future of mobility, and also invent the future of robotics,” he said, adding that the next wave of AI would be driven by mobility and physical AI.

This was the second meeting between the two industry leaders during Huang’s five-day business trip to Seoul. On Sunday, Chung and Huang reportedly dined together at a restaurant in central Seoul.

Under its robot-friendly workplace initiative, Hyundai’s robots are equipped with autonomous navigation technology, enabling them to move throughout the building, use dedicated elevators and recharge with minimal human intervention. Chung mentioned that the company plans to utilize the robots at its headquarters before mass commercialization, so the building also serves as a real-world proving ground for its physical AI technologies.

Industry sources say that as Huang was scheduled to inspect Hyundai’s robots, the two companies would have explored how to apply their physical AI partnership in real-world settings.

For autonomous driving, Hyundai seeks to combine Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion platform — a ready-to-use self-driving system package — with its own SDV architecture to deploy Level 2 and higher autonomous driving technologies in vehicle models, while continuing efforts to develop in-house AI systems.

Boston Dynamics is developing its Atlas humanoid robot using Nvidia’s next-generation robotics platforms, such as Jetson Thor, and AI models to perform more autonomous factory tasks. The company also uses the chipmaker’s Omniverse digital twin platform to extensively train the robot in virtual environments before deploying it in industrial operations.

The two companies are also supporting Korea’s physical AI initiative. Together with the Science Ministry, they agreed to invest roughly $3 billion to establish an Nvidia AI Technology Center and a Hyundai Motor Group Physical AI Application Center in Korea.

Hyundai and Nvidia’s strategic ties date back to 2015, when they signed a technology agreement to develop an intelligent connected car system powered by the Nvidia Drive platform. Five years later, they announced plans to expand the platform's use in infotainment systems across Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

Momentum has accelerated since January 2025, when the two agreed to apply accelerated computing, generative AI and industrial digitalization technologies across robotics, autonomous driving, smart factories and software-defined vehicles. Later that year, Hyundai unveiled plans to build an AI factory powered by 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs to train, validate and deploy AI models for in-vehicle AI, autonomous driving, smart manufacturing and robotics.