Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that South Korea can become a global leader in physical artificial intelligence. At the APEC CEO Summit, he praised the country's software expertise, technical capabilities, and manufacturing prowess while announcing plans to build AI factories. The partnership is expected to significantly expand South Korea's AI GPU capacity.
At a special session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang highlighted South Korea's competitiveness in the AI industry. Visiting Korea for the first time in 15 years, Huang said, "AI has now achieved the virtuous cycle." He explained that AI's penetration into daily lives increases usage, leading to company profits and ultimately better AI.
"For Korea, this is an extraordinary opportunity," he stated, emphasizing that the country possesses three essential qualities for AI success: software expertise, deep technical and scientific capabilities, and advanced manufacturing. "When you combine software, AI technology and manufacturing, you have the opportunity to really take advantage of robotics. This is the next generation of physical AI."
Physical AI involves integrating AI into physical devices like robotics, machines, and autonomous vehicles, expected to enable humans and robots to work side by side and transform lives. Huang described Korea as a key partner in Nvidia's vision, referencing partnerships with Korean companies announced earlier that day.
Nvidia will deploy up to 260,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) in South Korea, partnering with the government and major firms including Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and Naver Cloud to build large-scale AI factories. Samsung, SK, and Hyundai will each deploy up to 50,000 GPUs, while Naver Cloud will install around 60,000, totaling 260,000. This Blackwell-based infrastructure will increase South Korea's total AI GPU capacity from about 65,000 to more than 300,000 units, positioning it as one of the world's largest AI computing hubs outside the United States.
"Now we are going to advance AI together, build AI factories together and build digital twins together," Huang said. In a separate press conference, he noted that the deal will make South Korea a regional AI hub, attracting startups and companies from other countries. He praised Samsung Electronics and SK hynix for their high bandwidth memory (HBM) technology, stating, "I am 100 percent confident that Samsung and SK hynix Inc. will be long-term partners." He added, "We will continue to be incredibly close partners to advance the future of memory technology ... Korea is world class in memory technology."
When asked to compare the two, Huang said both have "incredible" capabilities, with SK more focused on memory and Samsung showing greater diversity. The APEC CEO Summit concluded its three-day run after Huang's session, as the annual APEC leaders' summit began earlier that Friday in Gyeongju.