Nvidia to deliver 260,000 Blackwell AI chips to South Korea

Nvidia will deliver more than 260,000 Blackwell AI accelerator chips to South Korea, after agreements brokered between the company and the Ministry of Science, along with Samsung, Hyundai, and SK Group, according to Bloomberg.

The deal is part of a larger effort by Nvidia to expand AI computing infrastructure across major global technology economies, though financial details have not been released yet as of press time.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is in South Korea attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, where he continued promoting Nvidia’s hardware as the backbone for national-scale AI systems.

The South Korean government plans to build what it is calling sovereign AI infrastructure, and it will involve installing more than 50,000 Nvidia accelerator chips in public and private data centers.

These include the National AI Computing Center and facilities operated by Kakao, Naver, and NHN Cloud. The plan focuses on maintaining domestic control over high‑level AI computing rather than outsourcing AI workloads to foreign cloud networks.

Samsung, Hyundai, and SK deploy large GPU clusters

Samsung will build a facility described internally as an AI factory, which will host over 50,000 Nvidia chips. Samsung will use the chips to train and deploy its own in-house AI models for devices and internal systems.

Nvidia representatives said Samsung will also modify its chipmaking lithography platform to work with Nvidia GPUs, a change Nvidia said could increase performance efficiency by up to 20 times.

Samsung will also adopt Nvidia’s Omniverse simulation software. In addition to being a customer, Samsung is also a supplier to Nvidia, producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used alongside the GPUs.

Samsung confirmed it will collaborate with Nvidia to adjust its fourth-generation HBM memory for improved AI chip compatibility.

Hyundai Motor Group will use a similar number of Nvidia’s Blackwell-based processors that will support Hyundai’s development of AI models for manufacturing automation and autonomous driving systems, as well as training cycles involving telemetry, robotics workflows, and real-world navigation datasets.

The allocation aligns with Hyundai’s move toward AI-driven car development and software-defined vehicle platforms.

SK Group is deploying Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell server chips in what Nvidia described as Asia’s first industrial AI cloud, intended for robotics operations and AI-assisted physical process workflows.

By putting Blackwell GPUs in industrial settings, SK Group is focusing on applying AI inside active production systems rather than only digital platforms, said Jensen.

Nvidia’s expansion into South Korea comes during a period of extreme demand for high-performance AI hardware after becoming the first to exceed $5 trillion in market value and Nvidia stock is up 11% in the five trading sessions through Thursday, as Cryptopolitan reported.

During a company event in Washington, Jensen said that Nvidia currently has a $500 billion business pipeline for its Blackwell GPUs and its next-generation Rubin systems.

Whether Nvidia will be able to sell its Blackwell processors to China remains unresolved. U.S. export restrictions currently limit shipments of high‑end GPUs to China. President Donald Trump said he was open to discussing the issue but did not raise it during a recent meeting with President Xi Jinping.

Local Korean media reported that after his speech, Jensen went out for beer in Seoul with Samsung Chairman Lee Jae‑yong and other business leaders. Check out the video below:-

Nvidia confirmed that SK Group and Hyundai are preparing GPU deployments in similar ranges to those previously outlined in government talks.

“We’re working closely with the Korean government to support its ambitious leadership plans in AI,” Raymond Teh, Nvidia’s Senior Vice President for Asia-Pacific, said during a call with reporters.

D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said, “Before this year, China made up as much as 25% of Nvidia’s market. Without China, Nvidia would need to expand the rest of its international business in order to continue to develop the market for AI data center equipment.”

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