"NVIDIA to Supply 'Vera Rubin' to Korea First"

Ryu Jaemyung, Vice Minister of Science and ICT: "Requested and Received a Promise from NVIDIA"
Concerns Over Korea Falling Behind in Autonomous Driving After Experiencing U.S. Technology

NVIDIA's next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) system, "Vera Rubin," which was unveiled at CES 2026-the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition-is expected to be supplied to Korea first. Combined with the ongoing initiative to build a GPU infrastructure of 260,000 units, this development is anticipated to provide Korea with a significant opportunity to gain an advantage in the global AI computing power race.

Jaemyung Ryu, Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT (fifth from the left), is visiting NVIDIA headquarters and taking a commemorative photo with Jay Fury, Senior Vice President (fourth from the left). The fourth from the right is Yejin Choi, a world-renowned AI scholar at NVIDIA and a professor at Stanford University. Photo by the Ministry of Science and ICT

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on January 13, Jaemyung Ryu, Second Vice Minister, shared the results of his visit to NVIDIA and his impressions of experiencing autonomous driving technology via his Facebook page after returning from CES 2026 and a business trip to Silicon Valley, USA.

During his visit to NVIDIA, Vice Minister Ryu met with Jay Fury, Senior Vice President. He explained that, inspired by the idea of Hajung Woo, Chief of AI Future Planning at the Presidential Office, he requested that Vera Rubin be supplied to Korea first, to which he received a positive response: "We will do so."

Vice Minister Ryu stated, "Being able to use the latest GPU before anyone else plays a crucial role in the competition for AI models, so this is a matter of great significance."

Vera Rubin is NVIDIA's next-generation AI superchip platform, unveiled at CES 2026 as the successor to Blackwell. It is the world's first to be equipped with sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4), and is the latest AI accelerator targeting mass production in 2027.

NVIDIA's next-generation GPU Vera Rubin. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

Vice Minister Ryu also confirmed that Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, is personally overseeing the establishment of NVIDIA's research institute in Korea. He noted that Yejin Choi, a world-renowned AI scholar and professor at Stanford University, has joined NVIDIA and is playing a key role, adding that a concrete timeline is expected to become clear soon. Vice Minister Ryu evaluated, "The establishment of NVIDIA's research institute in Korea demonstrates how important our country is to NVIDIA, especially as physical AI is making rapid progress."

He further mentioned that during this visit, Madison Huang, daughter of CEO Jensen Huang, personally guided him and emphasized, "My father considers the partnership with Korea extremely important."

Vice Minister Ryu also expressed a strong sense of urgency after comparing the rapid advancement of autonomous driving technology in the United States with the current situation in Korea. After test-riding Amazon's fully autonomous vehicle "Zoox" in Las Vegas and Google's "Waymo" in San Francisco, he remarked, "Even with no one in the driver's seat, it felt like it drove better than a human." He added, "San Francisco residents routinely use Uber and Waymo, comparing prices as part of their daily lives. Hearing that Hyundai Motor is conducting test drives in the United States due to regulatory constraints in Korea left me with regret and a pressing concern that, if things continue this way, our country may fall behind or be left out in the era of autonomous vehicles."