Nvidia floods Korea with AI chip power
Nvidia announced Friday it will supply 260,000 of its latest graphics processing units to South Korea as part of a major push to expand the country’s artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Jensen Huang made the announcement during a visit tied to the APEC summit, where he met President Lee Jae Myung and leaders of major Korean corporations.
Samsung Electronics will receive 50,000 chips for a new AI factory that integrates AI across its manufacturing operations. SK Group and Hyundai Motor Group will each get 50,000 units for their AI facilities. Naver Cloud, operator of South Korea’s top search engine, will deploy 60,000 GPUs to strengthen its AI systems. Another 50,000 will support the National AI Computing Centre in Seoul and local cloud and IT providers.
Huang praised South Korea’s role in the AI revolution, calling its tech and manufacturing leadership vital. Earlier in the week, he joined Samsung and Hyundai executives for dinner at a Seoul restaurant known for fried chicken and beer—a nod to the Korean term “kkanbu,” meaning close friend, popularized by “Squid Game.”
Nvidia, now valued at over 5 trillion dollars, has become central to global AI development. Its chips were referenced in recent US-China trade talks. Huang has urged the United States to ease restrictions on chip sales to China, arguing it is key to maintaining American tech dominance. President Trump said Nvidia would help mediate the issue.
