Gyeongju: President Lee Jae Myung assured Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang of South Korea’s complete backing to foster AI partnerships with Korean enterprises. “I am confident that under your leadership, Republic of Korea will serve as a true testing ground and a testbed, which pioneers the era of artificial intelligence, achieving great success without failure,” Lee stated, referring to South Korea’s official name.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Huang praised South Korea’s potential to evolve into a significant AI hub, acknowledging its advanced technological infrastructure, software capabilities, and human resources. “Korea has deep technical capabilities, visionary entrepreneurs and of course, no country in the world is better at industrial capability than Korea,” Huang remarked, emphasizing Korea’s potential as a global AI hub.
Huang highlighted Nvidia’s foundational roots in computer graphics and PC gaming, noting South Korea’s pioneering involvement in esports. He anticipated further collaborations, stating, “I have many announcements to make together for us to work together to help advance AI here in Korea in every industry from automotive to manufacturing to chip fabs, all the way to consumer electronics.”
Nvidia disclosed plans to deploy up to 260,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) in South Korea, collaborating with the government and major South Korean companies. This includes the allocation of 50,000 units for public sector use. The initiative will involve partnerships with Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and Naver Cloud, each establishing AI computing centers leveraging Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs.
The announcement occurred at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, aligning with South Korea’s strategy to enhance its AI infrastructure and applications, aiming to be among the world’s top three AI powers. Lee expressed South Korea’s ambition to become the “AI capital” of the Asia-Pacific region, noting collaborations with global firms like BlackRock and OpenAI to advance the nation’s AI hub status.
Lee urged Nvidia to contribute to creating a sustainable AI ecosystem, where infrastructure, technology, and investment mutually reinforce. “If Nvidia drives the speed of AI innovation, Korea is the optimal partner that can best harness that speed and set the right direction for innovation,” Lee concluded.