Baek Kyung-hoon (배경훈), deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT, met Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Seoul on Sunday afternoon to discuss ways to cooperate to expand domestic computing infrastructure and grow the physical AI ecosystem.

Baek and Huang formed a shared understanding that cooperation between South Korea and Nvidia built on the occasion of last year’s APEC CEO Summit should be linked to concrete results.

Baek asked for cooperation to ensure the smooth introduction of 260,000 GPUs promised during APEC cooperation and to push ahead within the year with the adoption of an AI factory based on Nvidia’s Vera Rubin NVL72. He also explored directions for cooperation between Nvidia, which has a physical AI full stack, and domestic industry, academia and research institutions, as well as government support measures.

Baek said he hoped physical AI research cooperation with domestic industry, academia and research institutions would be activated through the early establishment in South Korea of an Nvidia research and development centre. Baek and Huang will also attend a Korea AI ecosystem reception organised by Nvidia after their meeting.

“If we cooperate with Nvidia based on world-class semiconductor and manufacturing capabilities and potential in the AI field, we can create success cases across various industries,” Baek said. “I hope today’s reception will serve as a stepping stone for our country’s AI capabilities, including physical AI, the next generation of AI, to make another leap forward,” he said.