Presidential Office Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning Ha Jung-woo said on the 31st that, regarding the securing of 260,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) from U.S. Nvidia, "we have become No. 3 in the world (by GPU holdings)."
Ha said at a briefing after President Lee Jae-myung's meeting with Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, arranged on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit, "If 260,000 units come in on top of the 40,000 GPUs we already had, that makes about 300,000, and with that number we are indeed among the world's top three (in AI)."
He went on, "In a closed-door meeting, Huang said there are 20 million GPUs in the United States, and that China is (ahead), and that we are No. 3 in the world," adding, "Of course, the United States and China are far ahead, and the fight is for third place after that."
Ha also emphasized, "We are not ending with building one AI model with the secured GPUs; we can build AI that can be used in real industrial settings," adding, "In that sense, adding 260,000 GPUs can become a very important 'seed infrastructure.'"
He added, "(GPU) supply is not increasing, but (Nvidia) agreed to actively support supplying 50,000 units as quickly as possible in the public sector," noting, "What the National AI Computing Center provides can be utilized by national flagship AI corporations or Start - Up to accelerate (development) in fundamental technologies and application fields," conveying the significance of the meeting.