Gyeongju (South Korea) (AFP) – US tech giant Nvidia said on Friday it will supply 260,000 of its most cutting-edge chips to South Korea, as CEO Jensen Huang met President Lee Jae Myung and the heads of the country’s biggest companies on the sidelines of the APEC summit. South Korea is home to two of the world’s leading memory chip makers — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — which manufacture chips essential for artificial intelligence products and the data centres that the fast-evolving industry relies on. President Lee has also expressed his hope that the country can become the world’s third AI power after the United States and China.
Speaking to media after the announcement, Huang said that goal was “ambitious”. But he said, “there’s no reason why Korea cannot achieve it — you have the technology, you have the software expertise and you also have a natural ability to build manufacturing plants”. Nvidia has been caught in the middle of that geopolitical tussle. Its chips are currently not sold in China due to a combination of Beijing government bans, US national security concerns and ongoing trade tensions. Huang has urged the United States to allow the sale of US-made AI chips in China in order to ensure Silicon Valley companies remain a global powerhouse in providing artificial intelligence.
“The US government and the Chinese government have to decide what role they would like Nvidia to play,” Huang told reporters on Friday. “I’ve been very clear that having Nvidia technology in China is in the best interest of the United States and in the best interest of China as well,” he said. “I’m optimistic,” he added. And asked if he wanted Nvidia’s most high-tech chip, the Blackwell, to be sold in China, he said: “I hope so”. “But that’s a decision for President Trump to make.” Nvidia’s chips featured in talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Gyeongju this week. Beijing has ramped up its chip industry to beat Washington’s export restrictions on the critical component used to power AI systems.
Under Friday’s deal, 50,000 of the graphics processing units will go towards a new “AI factory” being built by Samsung Electronics. “By deploying more than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs, AI will be embedded throughout Samsung’s entire manufacturing flow,” the Korean tech giant said. SK Group and Hyundai Motor Group will also receive 50,000 chips for use in AI facilities. NAVER Cloud — which operates South Korea’s largest search engine — will receive 60,000 to expand its AI infrastructure. A further 50,000 will be deployed across Seoul’s National AI Computing Center and to cloud service and IT providers.
Huang has sought to forge closer ties with South Korean tech giants in his visit to the country this week. He met Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Eui-sun on Thursday for “chimaek” — a beloved South Korean pairing of fried chicken and beer — in the capital Seoul. The restaurant, Kkanbu, was reportedly chosen by Nvidia because the term — popularised by Netflix’s megahit “Squid Game” and meaning “friend” — was intended to highlight the spirit of friendship underpinning their AI and chip collaborations. Nvidia in July became the first company to top $4 trillion in market capitalisation, and followed that up by becoming the first to hit $5 trillion following an event on Tuesday where it announced new ventures building on its AI technology.
© 2024 AFP
