NVIDIA and KAIST Launch Joint AI Research Lab in Seoul to Advance Agentic AI for Korea
NVIDIA and KAIST are opening a joint AI research lab in Seoul with $300 million in compute contributions to develop agentic AI models tailored for South Korea's industries and language.
- $300 million
- $50 million per year
- At least 10
What Happened
NVIDIA and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have announced the launch of a joint AI research laboratory at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI in Seoul. The lab will focus on advancing agentic AI models and agent systems built for South Korea's industries, language, and future. The collaboration brings together NVIDIA's full-stack AI expertise, open Nemotron models, and AI Cloud Partner infrastructure with KAIST's research talent.
“Korea is home to leading AI researchers and is one of the world’s most advanced technology ecosystems. 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.”
“AI research is entering a new era — one that requires frontier talent, large-scale infrastructure and deep collaboration across academia and industry. 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.”
The lab is established at KAIST's campus in Seoul, with the university's main campus in Daejeon. KAIST is a leading research university with strengths in engineering, AI, semiconductor technology, robotics, and digital humanities. The joint lab plans to fund at least 10 KAIST researchers annually and provide them with internship opportunities at NVIDIA. Additionally, NVIDIA intends to hire exceptional Korean researchers for full-time positions.
$300 million
Includes compute contributions over five years at roughly $50 million per year from local NVIDIA Cloud Partners.
- Funding for at least 10 KAIST researchers annually with internship opportunities at NVIDIA
- Full-time hiring of top Korean researchers by NVIDIA
- Compute infrastructure from local NVIDIA Cloud Partners providing access to latest AI infrastructure
- Development of models optimized for the Korean language and Korea-specific use cases using NVIDIA Nemotron open models
Why this matters
This collaboration establishes a pipeline from academic research to enterprise and national AI deployments in Korea. It will fund at least 10 KAIST researchers annually, provide internships at NVIDIA, and create full-time roles for top Korean AI talent, helping the country attract and retain skilled scientists in the competitive global AI landscape.
Terms in This Story
- agentic AI
- AI systems that can autonomously pursue goals and take actions, often interacting with environments or users.
- NVIDIA Nemotron
- A family of open, customizable AI models from NVIDIA for building generative AI applications.
- NVIDIA Cloud Partner
- A partner that provides cloud-based access to NVIDIA AI infrastructure, such as GPUs and software.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.