Nvidia, the U.S. semiconductor giant now valued at over $5 trillion, announced on Friday that it will supply more than 260,000 of its most advanced artificial intelligence chips to South Korea’s government and leading corporations, including Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and Naver.
The deal, unveiled during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, underscores Nvidia’s growing role at the heart of a global race to harness AI capabilities and Seoul’s ambition to establish itself as a regional hub for artificial intelligence.
While the chipmaker did not disclose the financial value or delivery timeline of the deal, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said the agreement will “enable Korea to export intelligence as its next great product — just as it has done with ships, cars, chips, and electronics.”
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The partnership aligns with President Lee Jae Myung’s plan to make AI the central driver of South Korea’s economic transformation. Since taking office in June, Lee has aggressively pushed for investment in computing infrastructure and digital manufacturing amid trade tensions and slowing global demand for semiconductors.
“Just as Korea’s physical factories have inspired the world, the nation can now produce intelligence as a new export that will drive global transformation,” Huang said after meeting with President Lee and corporate leaders.
Under the agreement, South Korea’s government will deploy over 50,000 of Nvidia’s latest AI processors for the national computing infrastructure, including projects led by the National AI Computing Center. Samsung, SK Group, and Hyundai Motor Group will each receive up to 50,000 chips to accelerate their adoption of AI in chip design, electric vehicles, and industrial automation.
Naver, Korea’s largest internet company, will acquire 60,000 of the advanced processors to boost its cloud and search engine AI capabilities, while Kakao will join government-backed initiatives to expand data processing and generative AI systems.
Hyundai Motor Group, a key player in the agreement, said it will work closely with Nvidia to develop a “supercomputer” that will power in-vehicle AI, autonomous driving systems, and robotics. The company plans to integrate Nvidia’s next-generation architecture into its smart factories and mobility solutions.
Nvidia Expands Beyond the U.S.-China Rivalry
The deal marks one of Nvidia’s largest international partnerships since the U.S. began imposing restrictions on chip exports to China. Washington has repeatedly blocked Nvidia from selling its most advanced GPUs to Chinese firms, citing national security concerns.
Speaking earlier this month, Huang said U.S. trade restrictions had sharply reduced Nvidia’s access to the Chinese AI chip market, forcing the company to diversify into regions less entangled in geopolitical disputes — including South Korea, Japan, and India.
During Thursday’s meeting in Korea between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, the issue of U.S. export bans on Nvidia chips reportedly did not come up, signaling that Washington intends to maintain its current stance.
Nvidia’s deal with South Korea adds to a series of major international agreements as governments race to secure computing power critical to AI development. The company has recently announced similar partnerships in Japan, Singapore, and India, where it is supplying chips for new AI data centers and national computing platforms.
Analysts say the latest deal could significantly enhance South Korea’s standing in the global AI ecosystem, particularly given the country’s deep manufacturing expertise and its dominant position in memory chip production.
It is believed that the partnership will help Nvidia to gain a strategic foothold in East Asia, while Korea gains the infrastructure to compete with Japan and Singapore in AI innovation.
However, as AI reshapes global industry, South Korea’s bet on Nvidia chips marks a new phase in its technological evolution — one that may define the next decade of digital manufacturing, smart mobility, and national computing power.