NVIDIA and KAIST launch $300M joint AI lab for agentic AI in South Korea

NVIDIA and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have launched a joint AI research laboratory at the KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI in Seoul, dedicated to advancing agentic AI for South Korea. The collaboration is valued at $300 million and includes $50-million-per-year compute contributions over an initial five-year period from local NVIDIA Cloud Partners, providing researchers with direct access to the latest NVIDIA AI infrastructure. The lab will leverage NVIDIA’s full-stack AI expertise, Nemotron open models, and KAIST’s scientific talent to accelerate research on AI models and agent systems built for Korea’s industries, language, and future.

A key focus is developing talent pathways: the lab plans to fund at least 10 KAIST researchers annually, each with internship opportunities at NVIDIA, and NVIDIA will hire exceptional Korean researchers for full-time roles. This creates stronger ties between academia and industry, helping Korea attract and retain top AI scientists. The lab will prioritize developing models optimized for the Korean language and Korea-specific use cases using NVIDIA Nemotron open models, fostering a pipeline from academic discovery to enterprise and national AI deployments. Hyunwoo Kim, incoming KAIST faculty, will serve as lab head, while NVIDIA’s chief scientist Bill Dally highlighted Korea’s leadership in AI research and technology ecosystems.