Particle.news
Download on the App Store

South Korea Unveils K‑Nvidia Initiative, to Distribute 10,000 Nvidia GPUs Starting in February

The 1.46 trillion won plan targets sovereign AI capacity through compute grants, NPU development plus nationwide network upgrades.

Overview

  • Applications are open through Jan. 28, with projects eligible for up to 256 H200 GPUs or 128 B200 GPUs for one year.
  • The government secured 52,000 GPUs through 2030 and set aside 6,120 B200 units for the National AI Foundation Model Project.
  • Universities and public research institutes receive access at no cost, while startups and SMEs pay about 5–10% of market price with an extra 50% discount for youth‑led startups.
  • The strategy advances a K‑NPU software ecosystem to reduce reliance on CUDA and targets domestic NPU‑based AI servers with more than twice the power efficiency of foreign GPUs by 2030.
  • Network goals include converting 5G to standalone by 2026, deploying 500 plus AI‑optimized 6G sites, quadrupling backbone capacity, doubling undersea cables and targeting a 20% share of the global 6G and AI network market by 2030.