Seoul Says Nvidia Will Honor 260,000-GPU Pledge After Huang Exit

South Korea's science minister says Nvidia will deliver all 260,000 pledged GPUs despite Jensen Huang's resignation as chief executive — but the assurance comes only from Seoul, not from Nvidia itself.

Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said on Friday that Nvidia had reaffirmed the supply plan "at the corporate level." He announced the confirmation in a social media post titled "Jensen Huang's Resignation, but the Cooperation Continues." Nvidia has issued no statement of its own on the Korea commitments since Huang stepped down on Nov. 12 and chief financial officer Colette Kress became interim CEO.

The gap matters. A ministry confirmation is not a contract disclosure, and no Nvidia filing or public remark supports it so far.

What the review meeting agreed

The ministry's second vice minister chaired a meeting with Nvidia on Friday morning. Both sides agreed to push ahead with existing projects without disruption, according to Bae.

The work Bae listed as continuing:

• Linking Korean-made AI chips to Nvidia's platform through NVLink
• Building AI computing infrastructure in Korea
• Joint research and talent training in physical AI
• Efforts to bring Nvidia's GTC developer conference to Korea

One partnership already has names attached. Nvidia, SK Telecom and chip designer Rebellions agreed earlier this month to pair Korean NPUs with Nvidia GPUs.

How the 260,000 GPUs were divided

Nvidia announced the plan during Huang's visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Gyeongju in October 2025. The allocation was fixed then, not since revised.

• Samsung Electronics: about 50,000 Blackwell GPUs for its own AI factories
• SK Group: about 50,000 Blackwell GPUs
• Hyundai Motor Group: about 50,000 Blackwell GPUs
• Naver Cloud: 60,000
• The Korean government: 50,000 for national AI computing

The corporate allocations remain pledges. The government's share is the only tranche with delivery numbers attached.

How much has actually arrived

Of the government's 50,000-GPU allocation, Seoul is procuring about 35,000 directly. Bae said roughly 21,000 have been secured so far, with about 14,000 more due by early 2027. All figures are counted in computing performance equivalent to Nvidia's B200, not in physical chip counts.

A separate batch of about 15,000 GPUs is being secured through the planned National AI Computing Center. The government chips will fund AI research by companies, universities and institutes, plus policy projects including Korea's sovereign AI foundation model.

That leaves roughly 21,000 of the government tranche undelivered and every corporate tranche unquantified. The pledge is real; the delivered hardware is still a fraction of it.

What comes next

Bae said the ministry will keep monitoring GPU supply and demand across the public and private sectors. Nvidia reports quarterly results on Nov. 17, its first since Huang's exit, and that filing — not a minister's social media post — will show whether the interim leadership treats Korea's 260,000-GPU commitment as a firm shipment schedule or a promotional figure agreed under a departed CEO.