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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] SEOUL, South Korea — Ryu Je-myung, the 2nd Vice Minister of Science and ICT, announced on January 13 that NVIDIA has committed to prioritizing South Korea for the supply of its next-generation graphics processing units (GPUs), including the "Vera Rubin" series.
The announcement followed Ryu's visit to NVIDIA’s headquarters in Santa Clara after attending CES 2026. In a social media post, Ryu shared that Madison Huang, daughter of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, personally guided the delegation and repeatedly emphasized the critical importance of NVIDIA’s partnership with South Korea.
Securing the AI Competitive Edge NVIDIA reportedly promised the early supply of the Blackwell (GB300) series and priority access to the Vera Rubin series, which is scheduled for mass production in 2027.
"Being among the first to utilize the latest GPUs is of paramount importance in the global AI model competition," Ryu noted, highlighting that hardware accessibility is directly linked to a nation's AI sovereign capabilities.
The Era of Physical AI and Autonomous Racing Reflecting on his experience at CES 2026, Ryu identified "Physical AI" as the defining keyword of the year. He observed a radical shift toward foundation models for physical AI, intense semiconductor competition, and rapid advancements in humanoid robots and autonomous vehicles.
During his trip, Ryu personally tested advanced autonomous driving technologies:
Amazon’s ZOOX: A Level 4 autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or driver’s seat.
Google’s Waymo: A service that Ryu remarked "felt more skilled at driving on actual roads than a human."
A Call for Regulatory Reform Ryu expressed deep concern regarding the domestic regulatory environment in South Korea. "It was disheartening to hear that Hyundai Motor is conducting its test drives in the U.S. due to regulations at home," he wrote. He stressed a sense of urgency, warning that South Korea risks falling behind in the global autonomous vehicle race unless regulatory hurdles are addressed.
알파경제 Kim Jisun (stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
