Over 100 companies and institutions have shown interest in the government’s ambitious National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computing Center project. This public-private partnership has a budget of approximately KRW 2 trillion (about $1.38 billion). The project aims to deploy computing power equivalent to 30,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) by 2027, and initial services will be launched this year using 10,000 GPUs.
Participating organizations will access an unprecedented scale of research and development (R&D) infrastructure and future research outcomes. However, experts suggest that companies like NHN Cloud, Naver, and Samsung SDS, which have experience negotiating with NVIDIA, will be crucial for efficiently securing resources.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Science and ICT reported that about 100 companies and institutions submitted letters of intent to participate by last month’s deadline. Major domestic cloud service providers (CSPs), telecommunications companies, and several local governments expressed interest while exploring the possibility of hosting the temporary center site.
To secure 10,000 GPUs for early services within this year, South Korea would need to secure three to four times its current domestic supply. Using NVIDIA’s H100, a GPU commonly used in developing high-performance foundation models, as a benchmark, industry insiders estimate the country has around 3,000 H100s, far below the required amount. While the supply shortage of H100s has eased slightly, securing 10,000 units remains challenging.
NHN Cloud has secured approximately 1,000 H100s, with Samsung SDS reportedly holding a similar quantity. Naver’s affiliates are expected to possess even more.
Beyond GPU acquisition, the project also requires expertise in cooling and power management technologies and designs to mitigate fire and earthquake risks—essential for operating large-scale data centers. In these areas,l need to leverage private sector know-how. A Ministry of Science and ICT representative acknowledged the need for private sector expertise. He emphasized that the center aims to create an open research infrastructure involving academia and industry, making the participation of leading companies crucial.
However, the representative clarified that the project is not solely focused on NVIDIA, stating, “We’re exploring various options to secure computing resources based on our 10,000 GPU target.”
The center will be managed by a public-private joint special purpose corporation (SPC), with companies able to participate through consortiums. This year’s funding includes a KRW 625 billion (about $431.25 million) low-interest loan for semiconductors from the Industrial Bank of Korea and KRW 100 billion (about $69 million) in joint contributions from the public and private sectors.
The Ministry plans to evaluate interested companies’ computing resource plans and financial capabilities. A closed-door briefing for companies and institutions that submitted letters of intent is scheduled for Friday.