Blackwell chips power South Korea’s plan for AI leadership
Nvidia’s Blackwell platform lands a landmark South Korea deal, fuelling national AI clusters for research, industry and next-generation services.
South Korea has secured more than 260,000 Nvidia Blackwell AI chips for public and private deployments. Reuters reports allocations to Samsung, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and state-backed projects. Officials frame the order as core infrastructure for national AI leadership.
Blackwell is Nvidia’s flagship data centre platform for training and inference across large models and robotics. South Korean buyers plan to cluster and build AI factories for cloud, semiconductor R&D, and autonomous systems. Partners expect better throughput, efficiency, and faster deployment.
Export controls remain a backdrop, with Blackwell restricted in some destinations on US national security grounds. South Korea, a close US ally, is not subject to China-focused bans. Licensing specifics were not disclosed, but Nvidia says the chips will support commercial and research workloads.
Seoul has named AI a national priority and is scaling investment to rival top global hubs. Officials compare AI factories to the hardware plants that underpinned earlier industrial growth. The deal is cast as a catalyst for new supply chains, skilled jobs, and regional competitiveness.
Nvidia’s momentum continues amid accelerating worldwide demand for AI infrastructure. Recent partnerships span Japan, India, and the Middle East as enterprises modernise computing. Jensen Huang praised South Korea’s commitment, calling the agreement a delightful step toward broader AI adoption.
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