Insider Brief
- Nvidia and KAIST launched a joint AI research lab in Seoul focused on agentic AI for South Korea.
- Nvidia said the lab will be based at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI and will use Nvidia AI systems, Nemotron open models and cloud-computing resources.
- The $300 million collaboration is expected to include $50 million a year in compute contributions over five years, with the lab funding at least 10 KAIST researchers annually.
Nvidia and KAIST launched a joint AI research lab in Seoul focused on agentic AI for South Korea.
According to Nvidia, the lab will be based at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI and will combine Nvidia’s AI systems, Nemotron open models and cloud-computing resources with KAIST researchers.
“Korea is home to leading AI researchers and is one of the world’s most advanced technology ecosystems,” noted Bill Dally, chief scientist and senior vice president of research at Nvidia. “The joint Nvidia-KAIST research lab will provide a foundation for the next frontier of AI research to accelerate AI models and agent systems built for Korea’s industries, language and future.”
The collaboration is expected to total $300 million over an initial five-year period, including $50 million a year in compute contributions. The computing resources will come through local Nvidia Cloud Partners, giving researchers access to Nvidia AI infrastructure.
The lab plans to fund at least 10 KAIST researchers each year and provide internship opportunities at Nvidia. Nvidia also said it plans to hire Korean researchers for full-time roles.
Research priorities include AI models optimized for the Korean language and Korea-specific use cases. The partners said the work is intended to support a path from academic research to enterprise and national AI deployments.
“AI research is entering a new era — one that requires frontier talent, large-scale infrastructure and deep collaboration across academia and industry,” added Hyunwoo Kim, incoming faculty member at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, and soon-to-be head of the joint lab. “Together, Nvidia and KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI will pursue ambitious work that helps Korea attract and retain top AI scientists while building lasting ties with Nvidia’s global research organization.”
