Nvidia is working with South Korea to expand the nation's AI infrastructure by supplying it with over a quarter of a million GPUs.

The chips will be used for the country’s sovereign cloud and AI factories across different industry sectors.

With deployments in the public and private sectors, South Korea's AI infrastructure aims to build AI-driven economic growth and innovation across all of its industrial sectors, including automotive, manufacturing and telecommunications.

At the APEC summit, Nvidia highlighted South Korea's growth in the technology and manufacturing sectors, where accelerated computing infrastructure is becoming as essential as electricity grids and broadband.

Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive of Nvidia said: “Just as Korea’s physical factories have inspired the world with sophisticated ships, cars, chips and electronics, the nation can now produce intelligence as a new export that will drive global transformation.”

During the event, Bae Kyung-hoon, South Korea's deputy prime minister and minister of science, said the deal with Nvidia will strengthening its manufacturing capabilities.

“This will support South Korea’s prosperity as it strives to become one of the top three global AI powerhouses,” he added.

As part of this initiative, the nation’s Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (MSIT) will distribute up to 50,000 Nvidia GPUs to accelerate the development of sovereign AI for businesses and industries.

It will begin with an initial deployment of 13,000 Nvidia Blackwell and other Nvidia GPUs, expanding the country’s sovereign cloud computing infrastructure through initiatives such as the creation of the Korea National AI Computing Centre.

Research institutes, start-ups and AI companies will be able to use the sovereign infrastructure to build models and applications, supporting South Korea's national strategy to enhance AI capabilities and infrastructure, the South Korean government said.

As part of the move, Nvidia is also collaborating with Samsung, SK Telecom, ETRI, KT, LGU+ and Yonsei University to develop intelligent, low-power AI-RAN network technology that can reduce processing costs and extend device battery life.

Samsung said that it is collaborating with Nvidia to build an AI semiconductor factory with over 50,000 GPUs in order to promote smart manufacturing and integrate AI into its products and services.

SK Group is also partnering with the chipmaker to design an AI factory capable of housing over 50,000 Nvidia GPUs to promote semiconductor research, development and manufacturing, as well as a cloud infrastructure to support the development of digital twins and AI agents.

In the automotive sector, Hyundai Motor Group is collaborating with Nvidia to jointly develop AI capabilities in the areas of mobility, smart factories and integrated device semiconductors, using 50,000 Blackwell GPUs for training and implementing artificial intelligence models.

In support of the South Korean government's initiative to build a national physical AI cluster, Hyundai Motor Group and Nvidia will work closely with government stakeholders to accelerate the development of the ecosystem.

This will involve an investment of approximately $3 billion to promote the physical AI landscape in South Korea. Key initiatives include the creation of an Nvidia AI technology centre, a Hyundai Motor Group Physical AI application centre, and regional data centres dedicated to AI.

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