South Korea expects its contracted Nvidia GPU deliveries to proceed without disruption, Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Jemyung told a parliamentary budget committee on 9 November in Seoul, Reuters reported. His assurance followed an announcement by Nvidia’s board on 8 November that it had opened an independent investigation concerning chief executive Jensen Huang.
Key points
- Ryu said 10,000 GPUs funded by a 2025 supplementary budget had arrived and were in use.
- GPUs planned for 2026 were under contract and expected to enter service during the year.
- The ministry was monitoring developments and discussing prices and delivery schedules with Nvidia Korea.
The 10,000 GPUs already in use
Ryu separated equipment already delivered from the GPUs the government expects to receive under its 2026 contracts. The 10,000 units paid for through a supplementary budget in 2025 had arrived and were being used, he told the committee. The planned 2026 GPUs were contracted and expected to enter service this year. His account of those later deliveries concerned an expectation, rather than equipment already received.
“We expect production and the delivery schedule for contracted volumes to proceed without disruption,” Ryu said. The ministry was closely monitoring developments and talking to Nvidia Korea about prices and schedules, he added. Those discussions concern the terms and timing of supply even as the ministry expects contracted volumes to continue moving through production and delivery.
Nvidia’s inquiry into Jensen Huang
Nvidia’s board said on 8 November that it had opened an independent investigation after reports that a Chinese intelligence effort had targeted Jensen Huang through his relationship with businesswoman Alice Huang. AI Affairs previously reported the board’s inquiry into the alleged link. The intelligence targeting remained a matter of reports, rather than a finding attributed to the board.
The board said it had no reason to believe that US national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, Reuters reported. Huang said he would cooperate fully with the investigation. The board’s statement and Huang’s response address the allegations surrounding him; Ryu’s remarks to the budget committee addressed whether South Korea’s contracted GPUs would be produced and delivered on schedule.
Madison Huang’s South Korea visits
Plans for a visit by Madison Huang, an Nvidia senior director and Jensen Huang’s daughter, changed amid news of the controversy. South Korean AI startup Rebellions said she would no longer visit its headquarters or attend a partner dinner. Rebellions attributed the cancellations to unavoidable internal circumstances at Nvidia. Its account concerned the visit and dinner, rather than the government’s GPU contracts.
Kakao Mobility also cancelled a planned photo session and question-and-answer event with Madison Huang. It said its business agreement with Nvidia would proceed, with senior director Gaurav Agarwal attending instead. The change left Agarwal as Nvidia’s participant in that agreement while the events planned with Huang were cancelled.
Nvidia AI Day Seoul, a two-day event expected to bring together about 2,000 participants for discussions of physical AI, agentic AI and infrastructure, was proceeding as planned, according to South Korean media.
