South Korea Accelerates AI Infrastructure with NVIDIA Partnership

Strategic Insights -

South Korea is investing heavily in sovereign AI infrastructure, deploying over a quarter-million NVIDIA GPUs across its national clouds and AI factories. The initiative, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT, aims to accelerate AI development and enable the nation's manufacturing, automotive, and telecommunications sectors to become global leaders in AI.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Korean government is investing in sovereign AI infrastructure with over 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs to be deployed across the National AI Computing Center and Korean cloud service and IT providers NHN Cloud, Kakao Corp., and NAVER Cloud.
  • Samsung Electronics is building an AI factory with over 50,000 GPUs to accelerate its AI, semiconductor, and digital transformation roadmap.
  • SK Group is building an AI factory featuring over 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs and Asia's first industrial AI cloud featuring NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs for physical AI and robotics workloads.
  • Hyundai Motor Group is collaborating with NVIDIA and the Korean government in building an NVIDIA AI factory with 50,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to enable integrated AI model training, validation, and deployment for manufacturing and autonomous driving.
  • NAVER Cloud is expanding its NVIDIA AI infrastructure with over 60,000 GPUs for enterprise and physical AI workloads.
  • Korean companies, including LG, SK Telecom, and NC AI, are developing Korean foundation LLMs to accelerate Korean AI applications through public-private partnerships.
  • The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information is establishing a Center of Excellence for the advancement of quantum computing and science.

Statistics:

  • Over 250,000 NVIDIA GPUs will be deployed across South Korea's national clouds and AI factories.
  • The initiative will grow over the next several years from an initial deployment of 13,000 GPUs.
  • Samsung is investing over $1.5 billion in its AI factory, while Hyundai Motor Group is investing approximately $3 billion in its AI factory.
  • The Korean government will deploy over 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs across the National AI Computing Center and Korean cloud service and IT providers.
  • NAVER Cloud is expanding its NVIDIA AI infrastructure with over 60,000 GPUs.

Sources:

  • "APEC Summit-- NVIDIA today announced that it is working with South Korea to expand the nation's AI infrastructure with over a quarter-million NVIDIA GPUs across its sovereign clouds and AI factories." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)
  • Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA: "Korea's leadership in technology and manufacturing positions it at the heart of the AI industrial revolution -- where accelerated computing infrastructure becomes as vital as power grids and broadband." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)
  • Bae Kyung-hoon, Korea Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Science and Information and Communication Technologies: "Expanding our national AI infrastructure and developing technologies with NVIDIA is an investment that will further reinforce South Korea's strengths, including its manufacturing capabilities." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)
  • "The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) is accelerating its plans to deploy up to 50,000 of the latest NVIDIA GPUs to accelerate sovereign AI development for enterprises and industries." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)
  • "NVIDIA is working with Samsung, SK Telecom, ETRI, KT, LGU+, and Yonsei University to develop intelligent, low-power AI-RAN network technology that can reduce computing costs and extend device battery life." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)
  • "LG AI Research, NAVER Cloud, NC AI, SK Telecom, and Upstage are participating in the project to support sovereign model development." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)
  • "The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) is working with NVIDIA to establish a Center of Excellence designed to foster research collaboration using Korea's sixth-generation national supercomputer, HANGANG." (Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE, 31 Oct 2025)