“With the Chief Gone Over a ‘Spy Scandal’...” What About the ‘260,000 GPUs’ Bound for Korea?

[Financial News]  With the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry reeling from the sudden, ignominious resignation of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, the planned supply of 260,000 advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) bound for Korea—which had raised concerns—is expected to proceed without disruption.
On the 13th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon posted on Facebook under the title “Jensen Huang’s Resignation, but Cooperation Continues,” reaffirming the strong partnership with NVIDIA.
Deputy Prime Minister Bae said, “A meeting to review pending issues with NVIDIA was held this morning, chaired by the Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT,” adding, “NVIDIA made clear that it plans to proceed as scheduled with the supply of 260,000 advanced GPUs to Korea and its existing cooperative projects.”
This is swift government action to quickly allay concerns over potential AI infrastructure supply disruptions in Korea, following the announcement on the 12th (local time) of Jensen Huang’s abrupt resignation as CEO and the appointment of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Colette Kress as interim CEO.
The plan to secure 50,000 of the latest B200 GPUs, led by the government, is also on track. According to Deputy Prime Minister Bae, of the approximately 35,000 GPUs the government will secure directly, 21,000 have already been secured. The remaining 14,000 are scheduled to be delivered by early 2027. Separately, efforts to secure 15,000 GPUs through the National AI Computing Center are also proceeding as planned.
Deputy Prime Minister Bae stressed, “The government will work closely with domestic and overseas companies and institutions to thoroughly monitor GPU supply and demand in both the public and private sectors,” adding, “The GPUs we have secured will be deployed at the appropriate time as needed for AI research and development by companies, universities and research institutions, as well as for the development of independently developed AI foundation models.”
Key technological cooperation that goes beyond simply securing hardware is also moving ahead without a hitch. The two sides agreed to continue major initiatives, including linking domestic AI semiconductors with NVIDIA’s platform using its high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink; building AI computing infrastructure; conducting joint research on physical AI and developing talent; and hosting the global developer event GTC in Korea.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Bae shared his personal reflections on former CEO Jensen Huang’s departure, adding, “I am grateful for his deep interest in Korea’s AI capabilities and for lending support to help our government and companies grow in the global AI market.”
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter