Overview
- South Korea’s AI capacity is projected to surpass 300,000 high‑performance GPUs following a wave of partnerships anchored by Nvidia’s commitments.
- Nvidia plans to supply roughly 260,000 Blackwell GPUs, with 50,000 for a national AI cloud and allocations to Samsung, SK and Hyundai at 50,000 each, plus 60,000 for Naver.
- The government is preparing a National Growth Fund exceeding 100 trillion won to back sovereign AI efforts, including a national computing center and an “AI highway” of linked data centers.
- AWS outlined an additional $5 billion for AI data centers in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, bringing planned investment to $9 billion by 2031, while OpenAI’s arrangements with Samsung and SK hynix include plans for two data centers in Korea.
- Experts warn of execution risks such as dependence on Nvidia’s stack, soaring HBM demand—highlighted by a reported 900,000‑wafer‑per‑month request for OpenAI’s Stargate—and data‑center power constraints that are prompting discussion of small modular reactors.