GYEONGJU – Nvidia Corp. has agreed to provide 260,000 items of its high-end graphics processing items (GPUs) to South Korea’s authorities and 4 of its largest conglomerates by 2030.
The deal, valued at as much as 14 trillion received ($9.8 billion), will strengthen know-how ties between the US chip designer and certainly one of Asia’s most superior manufacturing economies.
Underneath the settlement, introduced on Friday on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Gyeongju, Nvidia will prioritize deliveries of its newest AI accelerators to Seoul’s Ministry of Science and ICT, Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai Motor Co., SK Group and Naver Corp.
The transfer comes as international locations scramble to safe scarce computing energy, important to creating generative synthetic intelligence fashions and industrial automation techniques.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Nvidia chief government Jensen Huang on the summit venue, joined by Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.
The gathering set the muse for probably the most complete non-public–public AI partnership but between Korea and a US tech chief.
“The Republic of Korea is a perfect testbed for the age of AI,” Lee advised Huang, pledging authorities assist for Nvidia’s funding in Korea.
Huang responded that “Korea has the right circumstances to change into a world chief in manufacturing AI.”
NATIONAL AI INFRASTRUCTURE DRIVE
Of the overall 260,000 GPUs, about 50,000 items might be allotted to the Korean authorities to energy sovereign AI basis fashions and a brand new nationwide AI computing middle.
The remaining 210,000 items will go to the 4 conglomerates, which plan to deploy the {hardware} throughout industries from semiconductor fabrication and automotive design to digital twins and robotics.
Samsung intends to make use of Nvidia chips in its so-called “AI manufacturing facility” to optimize semiconductor manufacturing.
SK Group will combine the GPUs into digital twin platforms and AI brokers to streamline analysis and growth.
Hyundai Motor plans to harness the processors for autonomous driving and robotics techniques, whereas Naver will use them to coach its massive language fashions, together with HyperCLOVA X 2.0.
Officers mentioned the brand new allocation dwarfs Korea’s present state holdings of 13,000 GPUs and will energy as many as half a dozen hyperscale information facilities.
That might make the nation the world’s third-largest GPU holder after the US and China, a milestone towards Lee’s pledge to make Korea one of many “prime three AI nations.”
“Securing GPUs has change into a proxy for measuring a rustic’s AI competitiveness,” mentioned a Seoul-based business official. “This settlement successfully places Korea on the AI map alongside the US-led alliance.”
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT IN AI RACE
Tech corporations and governments worldwide have struggled to obtain Nvidia’s chips amid hovering demand for its H100, H200 and upcoming B200 fashions.
Every GPU can price tens of hundreds of {dollars}, relying on configuration.
Trade estimates counsel the Korean deal’s whole worth might attain 14 trillion received, assuming full supply by 2030.
For Washington, the partnership reinforces the rising “AI alliance” community it’s constructing with trusted companions, together with Japan, the UK and South Korea, to counter China’s ambitions in superior computing.
Seoul has already deepened collaboration with BlackRock and OpenAI, with President Lee assembly CEOs Larry Fink and Sam Altman in latest months to debate AI funding.
INDUSTRIAL RIPPLE EFFECTS
Analysts count on the inflow of Nvidia processors to spur a series response throughout Korea’s tech sector.
SK Hynix Inc., already a key provider of high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM) for Nvidia chips, is prone to increase manufacturing of its next-generation HBM4 modules.
Demand can be set to rise for AI server parts, energy techniques and cooling gear equipped by smaller home companies.
“Past a easy buy, that is about anchoring the subsequent wave of AI infrastructure in Korea,” mentioned a senior business government. “It’s a geopolitical as a lot as an industrial assertion that Korea is a part of the US-led AI bloc.”
The announcement capped every week of AI diplomacy on the APEC summit, the place leaders from Seoul and Washington sought to align methods on rising applied sciences.
As world competitors for computing energy intensifies, Korea’s partnership with Nvidia marks each an financial alternative and a geopolitical dedication – one that would outline the subsequent chapter of the nation’s digital transformation, analysts mentioned.
