Hyundai, Nvidia outline 'AI Valley' vision for 9 trillion won Saemangeum project
Jensen Huang talked of opening an AI robotics research center in North Jeolla during a Hyundai headquarters tour hosted by Euisun Chung as cooperation on next-generation mobility deepens between the two tech leaders.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, right, tries out the PV 5, Kia's first dedicated Platform Beyond Vehicle model, alongside Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Euisun Chung during Huang's visit to the Korean automaker's headquarters in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul, on June 8.SARAH CHEA
Hyundai Motor’s ambitious AI and robotics cluster, situated on a large reclamation plot in Saemangeum, North Jeolla, will likely bring with it a wide suite of Nvidia’s latest platforms as part of a deepening relationship between the two firms.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dubbed the site for the 9 trillion won ($5.8 billion) initiative “AI Valley,” likening it to Silicon Valley in California, during his visit to Korean automaker's office on Monday.
“ES [Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Euisun Chung] invited me to build Nvidia in Saemangeum. I said that so long as there's excellent barbecue pork I'm very happy to build Nvidia and so those are the areas we spoke about, how do we align our engineering teams and our teams to move faster,” said Huang during the visit, which Chung hosted.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang signs the back of Spot, a robotic dog developed by Hyundai Motor Group subsidiary Boston Dynamics, during his visit to the Korean automaker's headquarters in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul, on June 8.SARAH CHEA
Huang also hinted at the possibility of setting up a research center in the area.
“And so it is very, very logical for Nvidia to build a research center here especially when it intersects with robotics. AI for robotics is very natural, very sensible and very smart for Nvidia to build in Korea,” he said.
The chief of the U.S. chip giant highlighted the growing cooperation between the two companies as Hyundai and its robotics subsidiary already deploy Nvidia platforms for developing autonomous vehicle system and robots.
GoogleAdmanager-KJD
“Our two companies [are] doing more and more work together. Hyundai is a mobility giant, and we are uniting AI and Hyundai’s expertise in mobility, we transform the future of mobility and invent the future of robotics,” he said.
“Nvidia loves Hyundai,” Huang added, while pinpointing Hyundai’s MobED, an autonomous mobility robot platform, saying it “touched his heart.”
Huang arrived at 1:30 p.m. at the headquarters, where he received a 30-minute tour of the company's displayed vehicles and robots.
Huang also inspected Hyundai’s EV charger which uses Nvidia’s GPU to realize Vision AI, a camera that enables automatic charging.
In Huang’s last visit to Korea in October last year, he promised to grant 50,000 Blackwell GPUs to Hyundai for cooperation in robotics and AI application.
The two firms also announced a roughly $3 billion investment in Korea to build an Nvidia AI center and a Hyundai physical AI application center.
