While Samsung Electronics and SK hynix dominated the chip-supply narrative at Computex 2026, it was a mobile-network operator that stole the GTC Taipei keynote on Monday. SK Telecom's shares jumped 13.42%, or ₩13,500, to close at ₩114,100 in Seoul after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang singled out the carrier as "a key partner in the manufacturing and physical AI sector" — the highest-profile public endorsement yet for a company repositioning itself from a telecom operator into a full-stack AI infrastructure provider.
Omniverse Inside the Fab
The praise centres on a live deployment. SK Telecom has integrated Nvidia's Omniverse platform to build a digital-twin replica of a SK hynix semiconductor fabrication plant, pairing it with Nvidia's agent toolkit to automate the processing of manufacturing data in real time. SK hynix completed a proof-of-concept for the system during 2025, and the two companies are now targeting a fully autonomous factory operation by 2030 — a timeline that positions SKT as the systems integrator bridging Korea's chip-manufacturing prowess with Nvidia's physical-AI software stack.
Monday's endorsement was not an isolated event. Huang had spotlighted the carrier at GTC San Jose in March, making SKT one of a handful of non-chipmakers to earn two keynote appearances at Nvidia's flagship developer conferences in 2026. The back-to-back visibility reflects Nvidia's strategy of cultivating "full-stack" operators — companies that can deploy Omniverse and Isaac across factory floors, robotics systems, and cloud infrastructure — rather than relying solely on chip customers for growth.
Korea Partner Night Elevates the Alliance
The GTC Taipei keynote coincided with Nvidia's first-ever "Korea Partner Night," held June 1 in Taipei. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won attended alongside Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President Kim Jae-june, SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung, LG Sciencepark CEO Chung Sue-hyun, and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yoo-won — a gathering that underscored how Nvidia is formalising its Korea relationships across chips, cloud, and physical AI simultaneously.
Looking ahead, Huang plans to travel to Seoul around June 5 for meetings with Hyundai Motor Executive Chairman Euisun Chung, LG Group Chairman Kwang-mo Koo, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin. Agenda items include deepening semiconductor supply agreements — Samsung and SK hynix both supply HBM4 chips for Nvidia's Vera Rubin AI computing platform, which entered full-scale mass production this week — and broadening adoption of Omniverse and Isaac across Korea's industrial base.
Market Read
SK Telecom's surge contributed to a wider Korea AI rally. The KOSPI closed at 8,788 on Monday, up 3.7%, with Samsung Electronics briefly topping ₩2,000 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time. Yet within that rally, SKT's 13.42% move stood out as a sector rotation signal: investors are beginning to price physical-AI operators, not just memory suppliers, as beneficiaries of the Nvidia ecosystem's next leg.
For SK Telecom — which shed its content-and-platform ambitions after its attempt to acquire SM Entertainment unravelled — the GTC moment marks a sharper identity. As Nvidia broadens its Korea cooperation from chip supply into systems and services, the carrier that built an Omniverse digital twin inside a semiconductor fab is finding that factory-floor AI may be the clearest path to a re-rating that chip-cycle exposure alone could not deliver.
Sources
- Seoul Economic Daily — SKT Shares Surge Over 10% After Jensen Huang Highlights Physical AI Partnership, June 1, 2026
- Seoul Economic Daily — Jensen Huang to Meet Korea's Top 4 Conglomerates on AI Chips, Robotics, May 31, 2026
- The Korea Times — Korean Tech Leaders Discuss Cooperation with Nvidia at COMPUTEX 2026, June 1, 2026
