FuriosaAI CEO Joonho Baek: "Aiming for 30-40% NPUs in AIDCs"

AIDC Alliance Officially Launched on the 29th

Yonhap News Agency

"We are aiming for neural processing unit (NPU) chips to be included in 30 to 40% of all artificial intelligence data centers (AIDCs) to be built in the future."

Joonho Baek, CEO of FuriosaAI, stated this in an interview with The Asia Business Daily on July 29, explaining, "It is impossible to fill large-scale AIDCs with NVIDIA chips alone." Baek attended the AIDC Alliance launch ceremony, which was organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT, at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul that day to establish a systematic framework for AIDCs through a public-private partnership.

The AIDC Alliance is co-chaired by the Ministry of Science and ICT and private sector leaders. The inaugural private co-chair is Jaeheon Chung, President of the Korea Information and Communication Promotion Association and CEO of SK Telecom. FuriosaAI is one of 12 members of the leadership group under the co-chairs.

Baek explained, "Recently, U.S. big tech firm OpenAI announced a plan to build data centers with a total capacity of 26 gigawatts (GW). Of this, 10GW will be based on NVIDIA chips, 6GW will use AMD, and the remaining 10GW will involve direct development in partnership with Broadcom." He stressed, "We, too, should aim to fill 30~40% of AIDCs with domestic NPUs rather than relying solely on NVIDIA chips." He further emphasized that Korea needs a national strategy that actively makes use of domestic NPUs, rather than depending on a single supplier, even in the 18GW-scale AIDC mega project announced by the government as one of the three major mega projects on June 29.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Baek Gung-hoon and private sector chairpersons are taking a commemorative photo at the launch ceremony of the AIDC Alliance held on July 29, 2026, at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Dongju Yoon

The enthusiasm at the AIDC Alliance launch ceremony was palpable, with over 400 representatives from industry, academia, and research institutes in attendance, including officials from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Financial Services Commission, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In his opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Heon Bae stated, "AIDC is a token factory, and we will establish ourselves as an exporter of intelligent tokens. As we enter the era of AI transformation, if we miss the golden time of three or five years, we could lose our position as a former IT powerhouse. Therefore, I urge everyone to join forces so that we can create a new AI world."

The Alliance, having unveiled its future roadmap, will establish task force and committee-specific roadmaps in the third quarter of this year. In the fourth quarter, it plans to hold the first leadership committee meeting and finalize the budget plan for the coming year. It will also prepare a draft of the AIDC Special Act enforcement ordinance and a plan for cluster development. In the first quarter of next year, the AIDC task force will be established, and the designation of cluster special zones will be accelerated in line with the enforcement of the Special Act.

Chung, co-chair of the Alliance and CEO of SK Telecom, stated, "While existing data centers have been information warehouses, in the future, they will become export factories supplying intelligence to the global market. AIDC is an integrated embodiment of cutting-edge technologies, including servers, storage, cloud, software, power, and cooling." He went on to say, "Building hyperscale AIDCs will create opportunities for AI exports and industrialization. As the AI era is a competition between nations, the launch of the AIDC Alliance marks the beginning of a united effort to advance further and higher, and its achievements will become the foundation for an irreplaceable Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.