Market attention is focusing on a meeting between Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group, and Jensen Huang, chief executive officer (CEO) of Nvidia. Observers say the two sides are expected to solidify a strategic partnership centered on three businesses: physical artificial intelligence (AI), AI factories, and AI data centers.
According to the business community on the 14th, Chairman Koo is set to visit Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, to meet with CEO Huang. The meeting was arranged at Nvidia's invitation, and the timing is expected to be on the 14th local time.
It comes about two months after the two held their first official meeting at the LG Twin Towers in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on June 6. After a closed-door meeting of about one hour, Koo said, "We didn't have enough time to cover all the details. We talked about meeting again in California," noting their next meeting.
Huang then proposed that Koo visit the United States, and Koo accepted, leading to this meeting, according to reports. Lyu Jae-cheol, president and CEO of LG Electronics, also reportedly departed for the United States on the 12th.
At the Seoul meeting, the top executives of both companies discussed co-developing a foundation model for AI robots, supplying heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems for AI data centers, and expanding synergies between Nvidia's AI factories and LG's manufacturing data.
This time, the two companies' cooperation on physical AI is expected to be a main agenda item. They are likely to discuss using LG Group's home appliance and vehicle component manufacturing facilities as a testbed and commercialization base for Nvidia's physical AI platform.
LG Electronics is currently running a joint project with Nvidia to test manufacturing-site robots from proof of concept (PoC) to real-world deployment. In June, LG and Nvidia agreed to co-develop a reference robot based on Nvidia's Isaac GR00T ecosystem. Isaac GR00T is a foundation model platform for Humanoid Robot.
Bae Seok-hyung, head of Robotics sales at LG Electronics, said at the second-quarter earnings announcement on the 30th of last month, "We are conducting a joint project to push manufacturing-site robots from PoC to real-world application by combining LG's robot hardware technology and manufacturing capabilities with Nvidia's physical AI technology. We are also collaborating on a simulation platform with the goal of field deployment next year."
Collaboration on AI data center design is also being discussed. Right after the previous meeting, CEO Huang said, "LG is fantastic in power supply, design and construction." He went on to say at the San Francisco AI Summit last month, which was attended by President Lee Jae-myung and heads of major Korean conglomerates, that "we will cooperate with LG in the power sector."
In AI data centers, one option being discussed is applying LG Electronics' cooling technology to Nvidia's AI infrastructure. LG Electronics has developed a 600-kilowatt (kW) coolant distribution unit (CDU) and obtained Nvidia AI Factory certification.
In mobility, a possible plan is to combine LG Electronics' in-vehicle infotainment and LG Innotek's camera and sensing technology with Nvidia's autonomous driving platform.
Some expect the two companies to pursue a broad range of cooperation at this meeting. Kim Chang-tae, chief financial officer (CFO) of LG Electronics, said at the second-quarter earnings announcement on the 30th of last month, "A strategic partnership with Nvidia at the AI platform ecosystem level can be fully considered."
In the securities market, LG Group is seen as having a vertically integrated structure for physical AI across AI model design, hardware manufacturing, and training and control platforms. LG Electronics would handle key parts such as actuators and finished goods and complete robots; LG AI Research would handle robot-based models; LG Innotek would handle precision vision sensing; and LG CNS would handle robot training and integrated operations platforms. Batteries and energy storage systems from LG Energy Solution would also go into the robots.
Lee Sang-heon, an analyst at IM Investment & Securities, said, "LG Group has built a vertically integrated value chain within the group that can source everything through its subsidiaries, from the brain (AI) to the eyes (sensors), limbs (actuators), power (batteries), and training platforms. As robots based on physical AI are commercialized in the future, LG Group's growth is likely to accelerate."