South Korea Receives First Nvidia GPUs in Massive 260,000-Unit AI Infrastructure Initiative

Historic GPU Delivery Marks Beginning of Korea's AI Transformation

South Korea has received its first batch of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) as part of an ambitious national initiative to deploy 260,000 units across the country, marking a significant milestone in the nation's quest to become a global artificial intelligence powerhouse 1

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The Korean government executed a substantial budget of 1.4 trillion won ($952.7 million) to acquire the initial shipment of 13,000 GPUs from Nvidia, according to sources from the Ministry of Science and ICT 1

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. The delivery reportedly includes multiple GPU models, featuring Nvidia's latest B200 processors, which are high-performance semiconductor chips designed to handle simultaneous calculations essential for training and operating AI models.

Government-Industry Collaboration Takes Shape

To coordinate this massive undertaking, the South Korean government launched a dedicated working group involving the country's largest technology conglomerates 2

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. The inaugural meeting, chaired by Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung, brought together senior executives from Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, SK Telecom, and Naver Cloud to discuss implementation strategies and expand cooperation within Korea's AI ecosystem 2

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Participants agreed to maintain a standing coordination system through regular meetings of the working group, ensuring seamless execution of the ambitious GPU deployment plan 3

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Strategic Distribution Among Key Players

The comprehensive plan involves strategic allocation of GPUs across various sectors to maximize impact. The government will utilize 50,000 GPUs to construct a national sovereign AI platform, ensuring state-level AI capabilities 1

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. Major conglomerates will receive substantial allocations: Samsung Electronics, SK Group, and Hyundai Motor Group are each set to receive 50,000 units, while Naver will obtain 60,000 GPUs.

The government plans to distribute the initial batch of GPUs to universities, research institutes, startups, and public-sector organizations, fostering a comprehensive AI development ecosystem across academia and industry 1

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Transforming Korea's AI Landscape

This initiative represents a dramatic expansion of Korea's AI computing capacity. The Blackwell-based infrastructure will boost the country's total installed AI GPU capacity from approximately 65,000 to more than 300,000 units 2

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. This massive increase positions South Korea as one of the world's largest hubs for AI computing outside the United States.

The project follows Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's announcement in late October, when he revealed the company's commitment to deploy 260,000 GPUs to Korea in partnership with the government and major companies to build large-scale AI factories throughout the country 1

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