Korea Joins the AI Industrial Revolution: NVIDIA and National Leaders Launch Historic Partnership at APEC Summit
Amid the backdrop of Gyeongju’s serene temples and glittering modern skylines, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at the APEC Summit to announce a historic moment for South Korea and the global technology landscape. With more than a quarter-million NVIDIA GPUs powering the initiative, South Korea is stepping boldly into the era of sovereign artificial intelligence — marking one of the largest national AI investments ever undertaken.
“It’s vital that we build the ecosystem, not just the AI infrastructure, of Korea,” Huang declared, unveiling a sweeping plan to establish the country as a powerhouse of AI innovation. The initiative encompasses national-scale GPU deployments, sovereign AI clouds, and a network of industrial “AI factories” designed to accelerate Korea’s digital transformation across sectors.
A Coalition of Industry Titans
This unprecedented collaboration is backed by South Korea’s most influential organizations, including the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, LG, NAVER Cloud, and others. Together, they aim to create an AI ecosystem that integrates hardware, software, and national infrastructure — ensuring Korea’s leadership in AI, robotics, and advanced manufacturing.
The announcement coincided with the broader APEC Summit, where world leaders from 21 member economies — including the U.S., China, Japan, Australia, and Singapore — gathered to discuss regional economic and technological cooperation. Against this global backdrop, Korea’s commitment to sovereign AI underscored its ambition to become a regional AI hub and a critical player in the next industrial revolution.
Continuing a Legacy of Technological Innovation
NVIDIA’s deep relationship with South Korea spans decades. From the early days of esports and PC gaming to today’s AI-driven innovations, Korea has long stood at the forefront of digital culture and high-performance computing. This legacy was celebrated recently in Seoul with the GeForce Gamer Festival, marking GeForce’s 25th anniversary in Korea. The event showcased cutting-edge GeForce RTX technology and offered exclusive gameplay previews from NCSOFT’s upcoming titles AION 2 and CINDER CITY, both powered by NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation.
Gaming giant KRAFTON also unveiled PUBG Ally, an AI co-playable character built with NVIDIA ACE, enhancing the world-renowned PUBG: Battlegrounds experience. The festival combined technology with culture — featuring live esports matches, special appearances by legendary gamers Hong Jin-ho (YellOw) and Lee Yoon-yeol (NaDa), and performances by taekwondo troupe K-TIGERS and K-pop sensation LE SSERAFIM.
Building Sovereign AI Infrastructure
At the heart of this initiative is the Sovereign AI Infrastructure Program, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The program will deploy up to 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs through Korean cloud providers such as NHN Cloud, Kakao Corp., and NAVER Cloud. The initial rollout includes 13,000 next-generation NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, forming the foundation of the country’s sovereign AI cloud and setting the stage for large-scale AI development across industries.
Korea’s Industrial AI Factories
Private sector investment in Korea’s AI transformation is equally impressive. Major conglomerates are building massive AI factories powered by NVIDIA technology:
- Samsung Electronics is leveraging NVIDIA CUDA-X, cuLitho, Nemotron models, and Omniverse to build digital twins for semiconductor fabrication and to advance its robotics initiatives with NVIDIA Cosmos and Isaac GR00T.
- SK Group is designing an AI factory capable of housing up to 60,000 GPUs, including NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs, to power AI clouds for manufacturing and robotics startups.
- Hyundai Motor Group, in collaboration with NVIDIA and the Korean government, is constructing an AI factory with 50,000 Blackwell GPUs to drive AI model training and validation for autonomous driving, robotics, and smart manufacturing.
- NAVER Cloud is expanding its AI infrastructure with 60,000 additional GPUs to support sovereign and physical AI workloads, developing specialized models for sectors like shipbuilding, security, and public services.
Advancing Research in Language and Quantum AI
South Korea’s push extends beyond infrastructure into fundamental research. MSIT is leading a Sovereign AI Foundation Models Project in partnership with LG AI Research, NAVER Cloud, SK Telecom, Upstage, NC AI, and NVIDIA. Using NVIDIA NeMo and Nemotron frameworks, the initiative will train advanced Korean language models that integrate reasoning, speech, and multimodal capabilities.
LG and NVIDIA are also partnering to support startups and academic institutions using LG’s EXAONE models, including EXAONE Path, a healthcare AI designed with the MONAI framework to assist in cancer diagnostics.
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) is joining forces with NVIDIA to launch a Center of Excellence for Quantum Computing and Scientific AI, leveraging its sixth-generation HANGANG supercomputer and the NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform. The collaboration will explore hybrid quantum computing and physics-informed AI models using NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo.
Driving the Next Frontier: AI-RAN and 6G
To prepare for the next generation of connectivity, NVIDIA is partnering with Samsung, SK Telecom, ETRI, KT, LGU+, and Yonsei University to develop AI-RAN and 6G infrastructure. This technology shifts AI processing from devices to base stations, cutting energy consumption and extending device battery life — a critical step for enabling widespread robotics and IoT adoption.
Empowering Startups and Workforce Development
To nurture Korea’s next wave of innovators, NVIDIA is expanding its Inception startup program in the region. Startups will gain access to NVIDIA’s accelerated computing resources and collaboration opportunities with venture firms such as IMM Investment, Korea Investment Partners, and SBVA.
A new Center of Excellence, powered by NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs, will support physical AI development, while the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute will provide nationwide training programs to upskill the workforce in AI development and deployment.
A Vision for an AI-Driven Nation
South Korea’s ambitious partnership with NVIDIA represents more than an infrastructure upgrade — it’s a blueprint for a nation redefining itself through artificial intelligence. From semiconductor labs to autonomous vehicle factories, from quantum computing to sovereign language models, Korea is laying the groundwork for an economy powered by intelligence.
As Jensen Huang noted, this isn’t just about building GPUs — it’s about building an ecosystem. The nation’s fusion of technology, innovation, and culture positions it as a global leader in the AI industrial revolution, setting a precedent for how countries can harness AI to transform their industries, research, and future.
