Reflection and Shinsegae Group to Build Korean Sovereign AI Factory

Landmark partnership brings Reflection's frontier open-weight models and NVIDIA GPUs to the Republic of Korea, establishing blueprint for democratic AI infrastructure

SAN FRANCISCO, March 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflection AI, Inc., America's frontier open intelligence lab, and Shinsegae Group, one of the Republic of Korea's largest conglomerates, today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build a sovereign AI cloud to serve enterprises and agencies across the Republic of Korea.

By combining Reflection's advanced AI capabilities with Shinsegae Group's proven infrastructure expertise – and with the support of both the United States and Korean governments – the partnership will establish a new model for sovereign AI deployment. The announced 250-megawatt AI factory in the Republic of Korea will be powered by Reflection's open-weight foundation models and NVIDIA's GPUs. This agreement is supported by the governments of the United States and the Republic of Korea – demonstrating that allied nations can access frontier AI capabilities without sacrificing sovereignty or security.

"We have a narrow window to ensure the foundation of intelligence remains open and accessible to all, rather than controlled by a few," said Misha Laskin, CEO and co-founder of Reflection. "South Korea is one of the most technologically ambitious nations in the world, and one of America's closest allies in the Pacific. Together, we're building AI infrastructure that the Republic of Korea can control, audit and evolve on its own terms."

The Reflection and Shinsegae Group AI factory will equip Korean government and enterprise with fully sovereign frontier capabilities built and operated on home soil, setting a new standard in technological self-sufficiency.

By deploying Reflection's open-weight models, South Korea will retain broad visibility into the technology powering its most critical systems. In addition to meeting South Korea's strict requirements for national autonomy, the partnership reinforces a vital geostrategic alliance between the United States and a valued Indo-Pacific partner. 

"The data center that we are building in partnership with Reflection AI will not only be a growth opportunity for Shinsegae, but also a pivot point for the Korean AI ecosystem," said Chairman Yongjin Chun of Shinsegae Group.

The pioneering venture, which will be executed in phases, is equal parts engineering and infrastructure. Reflection will provide the technical expertise – including chips, models, and full-stack engineering – while Shinsegae secures the infrastructure needs including the factory's physical architecture, real estate, power, permitting, and financing.

The new partnership reflects a shared belief that sovereign nations should control their own AI destiny – and that open technology, built on trust between allies, is how to responsibly forge that future. As other nations chart their own paths in AI, the Reflection and Shinsegae Group model offers a compelling example of what can be achieved.

About Reflection
Reflection is building frontier open intelligence, accessible to all. The company has assembled an extraordinary team that pioneered breakthroughs including PaLM, Gemini, AlphaGo, AlphaCode, and AlphaProof, with contributors to ChatGPT and Character AI. Reflection has built a frontier LLM training stack capable of training massive Mixture-of-Experts models at scale, and raised $2 billion to ensure the foundation of intelligence remains open and accessible. The company believes AI should be built through transparency and collaboration – enabling the global research community to participate in safety research and development. Learn more at reflection.ai.

About Shinsegae Group
Shinsegae Group is one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, with a diverse portfolio encompassing hypermarkets, real estate, hospitality, information technology and modern e-commerce platforms. 

Originally part of Samsung Group, Shinsegae spun off in 1991 and has been instrumental in helping global brands such as Starbucks, Simon, Marriott and Paramount Global successfully expand into Korea, offering critical local insights and operational support.

SOURCE Reflection AI, Inc.; Shinsegae Group