This procurement initiative comes in response to escalating global competition for AI dominance, particularly after the U.S. imposed new regulations restricting the export of GPUs essential for advanced AI applications.

Notably, South Korea is among 18 countries exempt from these restrictions, allowing it to pursue its AI ambitions more freely.

However, this procurement plan is modest compared to large buyers like Microsoft, which purchased nearly half a billion Nvidia GPUs for approximately $15 billion last year.

Key attendees at the announcement included government officials and private sector leaders, who discussed current trends in AI infrastructure.

On February 17, 2025, acting President Choi Sang-mok announced South Korea's ambitious plan to acquire 10,000 high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) within the year to bolster its national AI computing capabilities.

Seoul aims to acquire Nvidia's H100 and H200 chips, which are crucial for AI applications, having had about 2,000 H100s at the end of 2023.

The 2025 AI technology budget has been increased by 25% to 1.8 trillion won, reflecting the government's commitment to strengthening national AI capabilities.

While South Korea intends to procure 10,000 GPUs, it has yet to finalize specific models, with Nvidia being the current market leader.

China continues its ongoing efforts to expand its data center computing power, contributing to the global AI race.

This initiative aims to enhance the country's competitiveness in the AI sector through collaboration between public and private sectors.

This move aligns with other nations' efforts to bolster their AI infrastructure, such as the U.S. Stargate project, which involves a $500 billion investment in new data centers.

Nvidia currently dominates the global GPU market with an estimated 80% share, crucial for AI applications, while competitors like Intel and AMD lag behind.