Nvidia and SK Hynix are further expanding their partnership with a multi-year agreement to develop a new generation of AI memory and infrastructure technology. At the same time, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (pictured) confirmed that the company’s new Vera processors use DRAM memory from SK Hynix.
According to Bloomberg, the deal covers both the design and manufacturing of future chips. Nvidia reports that the partnership is about more than just memory technology. The two companies will also collaborate on AI infrastructure and applications for physical AI, a collective term for AI systems that work directly with machines and robots.
For SK Hynix, this agreement further strengthens its position within Nvidia’s rapidly growing AI ecosystem. The Korean manufacturer is already considered one of the leading suppliers of advanced memory for AI accelerators.
HBM4 is the next battleground
This announcement comes as the market prepares for the introduction of HBM4, the next generation of high-bandwidth memory. This memory technology plays an important role in AI systems because it can process large amounts of data quickly.
Last week, Huang announced that Nvidia had certified three suppliers to manufacture HBM4 memory: SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron. Together, the three companies dominate the global market for advanced memory and are in fierce competition for contracts for future AI platforms.
The new memory will be used in Vera Rubin, Nvidia’s next-generation AI infrastructure, among other applications. According to Huang, the platform is now fully operational. Delivery of the first systems is scheduled for the third quarter of this year. This server combines a Vera processor with a Rubin GPU and several terabytes of HBM4 memory.
During his visit to South Korea, Mr. Huang provided further insight into the partnership. After a meeting with SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won and SK Hynix CEO Kwak No-jeong, he said that NVIDIA, together with SK Hynix, is preparing for strong growth in the second half of this year and further growth in 2027.
He also confirmed that the new Vera CPUs use SK Hynix DRAM memory, Bloomberg reported. Vera is Nvidia’s first standalone server processor for data centers and represents another step in the company’s strategy to offer its own CPU platform alongside GPUs.
With Vera, Nvidia will enter the data center processor market directly, competing with proprietary chip designs from hyperscalers such as Intel Xeon, AMD Epyc, and Amazon Graviton.
Demand for AI memory continues to grow
Analysts expect the partnership to be profitable for both companies. In addition to HBM memory, SK Hynix also supplies DRAM and SSD storage for AI systems. Growth in AI training and inference is increasing demand for all three product categories.
The long-term agreement with Nvidia gives SK Hynix greater certainty to expand its production capacity. This looks set to further strengthen the company’s role as one of Nvidia’s key memory partners in the coming years.
