Government to Begin Advanced GPU Services as Early as October
Purchase Orders for H200 and B200-Class GPUs to Begin in July
Strategic Allocation to Academia, Industry, and Research Institutes
The government is expected to begin supplying advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) procured to strengthen artificial intelligence (AI) competitiveness in Korea as early as October. With the launch of a project to secure 10,000 units of H200·B200-class GPUs, which are essential for training large-scale AI models, GPU support for domestic academia, industry, and research institutes is scheduled to begin within the year.
On May 14, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced its "Plan to Secure Advanced GPUs" at the Economic Ministers' Meeting and the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The government has allocated an additional budget of 1.46 trillion won to purchase the latest GPUs through major domestic cloud companies and plans to sequentially install them in domestic data centers by the end of the year.
Cloud companies to be entrusted with GPU procurement and installation will be selected through a public contest in May and June, with agreements to be signed in July and immediate commencement of purchase orders. The government stated, "Procurement orders and data center infrastructure construction, including power design, will proceed in parallel, and GPU provision will begin in October along with service stabilization." However, the schedule may be subject to change depending on the supply situation of certain latest products, such as the Blackwell architecture-based B200 model.
The government plans to prioritize the allocation of GPUs secured through this project to the National Computing Center (SPC) and distribute them to domestic academia, industry, and research institutes, focusing on strategic projects such as generative AI, autonomous driving, and robotics. The right to use the GPUs will be vested in the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), and partial self-use will be permitted in consideration of companies' data center operating costs.
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By fully launching advanced GPU services within the year, the government aims to resolve the chronic shortage of AI infrastructure and secure a leading position in the global AI competition. Some have expressed skepticism about whether the government can secure sufficient quantities amid a global GPU supply shortage. In response, a Ministry of Science and ICT official stated, "We have formulated the plan based on the internal assessment that there will be no supply issues." The ministry is known to be diversifying both domestic and international supply chains to increase the likelihood of early procurement. Minister Lee Jongho also plans to visit the United States this week to discuss cooperation with NVIDIA regarding GPU procurement.
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