South Korea & IBM — IBM Research

South Korea: South Korea is becoming a critical hub for AI infrastructure development and physical AI, with its government and major tech companies investing heavily in AI initiatives and partnering with Nvidia.

IBM — IBM Research: IBM — IBM Research is collaborating with Nvidia to improve EXAONE, one of South Korea's premier AI model families, using Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, NeMo framework, and Nemotron datasets. This advances SK Group's sovereign AI ambitions and expands AI agent-powered enterprise services.

South Korea: South Korea is home to Samsung and SK Hynix, whose China operations are affected by U.S. export controls. The companies are hedging by testing Chinese equipment.

IBM — IBM Research: IBM — IBM Research is expected to generate over $1 billion in revenue in 2026, benefiting from the same tailwinds as other Chinese equipment makers.

South Korea: LG Electronics is constructing a large-scale data factory at its Yangjae R&D Campus in Seoul, South Korea, indicating the geographical location of a key development in this event.

IBM — IBM Research: IBM — IBM Research is an affiliate of LG Electronics that will contribute its AI expertise to the 'One LG Solution' strategy for the robotics business.