After Power Grids, the Era of Intelligence Networks... NVIDIA and Korea Drawing a New Industrial Map Together.
At the APEC Summit and Corporate CEO Summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province (October 31, 2025), NVIDIA officially announced GPU supply agreements with the Korean government and major conglomerates (Samsung Electronics, SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group) covering approximately 260,000 AI chips. On November 2, the Ministry of Science and ICT, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus, ETRI, Yonsei University, and NVIDIA signed an MOU for joint research and demonstration of AI-RAN (intelligent base station) technology. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang: "Accelerated computing infrastructure is an essential element of national infrastructure like power grids and broadband — Korea has software and manufacturing capabilities to become a core hub of the AI ecosystem." Korea's broader strategic intent: transitioning from AI infrastructure consumer to AI infrastructure exporter and industrial design nation. Key components beyond chip supply: data center construction; GPU cluster applications; power/thermal management systems forming an "AI power grid." AI-RAN represents the integration of AI computation and communications infrastructure — enabling intelligent network management, resource allocation optimization, and new service capabilities that treat the cellular network as a programmable AI platform. The convergence of compute infrastructure (chips) and communications infrastructure (base station technology) simultaneously signals AI infrastructure's elevation from technical component to national foundation infrastructure — with significant implications for national competitiveness, economic sovereignty, and industrial policy globally.
