SEOUL, Nov 9 (Reuters) – South Korea expects contracted deliveries of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) to proceed without disruption despite a controversy surrounding the chipmaker’s chief executive Jensen Huang, Seoul’s deputy science minister said on Monday.
Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Jemyung told a parliamentary budget committee that 10,000 GPUs funded under a 2025 supplementary budget had already arrived and were in use.
GPUs planned for 2026 were under contract and expected to enter service this year, he said.
“We expect production and the delivery schedule for contracted volumes to proceed without disruption,” Ryu said, adding that the ministry was closely monitoring developments and discussing prices and schedules with Nvidia Korea.
Nvidia’s board said on Sunday it had opened an independent investigation after reports that CEO Jensen Huang had been targeted by a Chinese intelligence effort through his relationship with businesswoman Alice Huang.
The board said it had no reason to believe US national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, while Huang said he would cooperate fully.
News of the controversy coincided with the cancellation of a visit to South Korea by Huang’s daughter Madison Huang, an Nvidia senior director.
South Korean AI startup Rebellions said her planned visit to its headquarters and a partner dinner were cancelled because of unavoidable internal circumstances at Nvidia.
Kakao Mobility also cancelled a photo session and question-and-answer event with her, but said a business agreement with Nvidia would proceed with senior director Gaurav Agarwal attending instead.
Nvidia AI Day Seoul, a two-day event expected to draw about 2,000 participants to discuss physical AI, agentic AI and infrastructure, was proceeding as planned according to South Korean media.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim and Heekyong YangEditing by Ed Davies)
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