Seoul, Jan 13 US tech giant Nvidia officials have expressed their intent to offer South Korea priority in supplying its next-generation Vera Rubin graphics processing units (GPUs), a senior Seoul official said on Tuesday.
Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung made such a remark in a social media post recalling his recent visit to Nvidia's headquarters in the U.S. after attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 in Las Vegas, reports Yonhap news agency.
"Nvidia officials pledged early supply of its Blackwell GB300 GPUs, as well as priority supply to South Korea of the Vera Rubin series, which is scheduled to enter mass production in 2027," Ryu said.
The vice minister said he was personally guided by Madison Huang, the daughter of Nvidia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang.
"As the opportunity to use the latest GPUs ahead of others plays a very important role in competition over AI models, such a promise is meaningful," he added.
In October, Nvidia announced a plan to supply up to 260,000 GPUs to South Korea in partnership with the government and major companies to build large-scale AI factories in the country.
Ryu also shared his experience of experiencing autonomous vehicles at CES while noting intensifying competition in related fields.
"We are already facing a situation in which products and services across all sectors, including autonomous driving, robotics, digital health care and smart home solutions, cannot survive without a competitive AI foundation."
Meanwhile, science ministry said it has shared a view with Nvidia on swiftly setting up a research centre in South Korea. Second Vice Science Minister Ryu Je-myung met with Jay Puri, executive vice president at Nvidia, in California on Friday (U.S. time), according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
During the meeting, Ryu and Puri shared a consensus on the need to promptly establish Nvidia's research and development facility in South Korea and discussed ways to jointly foster artificial intelligence startups, the ministry said.
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