THE APEX TIMES
Jensen Huang Meets Seoul’s Builders as NVIDIA Pushes to Align the AI Supply Chain for the Second Half
In a visit framed around sovereign infrastructure, robotics and “physical AI,” NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said the company is entering a more active production and deployment phase after Grace Blackwell’s progress and Vera Rubin’s move into full production.
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang is in Seoul this week, meeting partners and builders behind South Korea’s fast-growing AI and robotics push. In an update posted by NVIDIA, Huang positioned the trip as a time to “align the AI supply chain” ahead of what he described as a demanding second half - after a strong start to the year marked by ongoing infrastructure buildouts.
Speaking to media during the visit, Huang said NVIDIA is already seeing momentum from its current-generation systems and that new production capacity will keep the company and its ecosystem busy. He pointed to Grace Blackwell, describing it as “doing very well,” and to Vera Rubin, which he said is now “in full production.”
Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin refer to NVIDIA’s datacenter system platforms that combine GPUs (graphics processing units), CPUs, and high-speed interconnects to run large-scale AI training and inference. Vera Rubin, in particular, is designed as an “AI factory” engine for agentic workloads - AI systems that can carry out multi-step tasks with reasoning, retrieval, and tool use - according to NVIDIA’s investor materials. NVIDIA said Vera Rubin is ramping into full production and that it delivers “10x agent throughput” at scale versus the Grace Blackwell platform.
Huang also emphasized robotics and physical AI - efforts to apply AI to the physical world, such as manufacturing automation and other real-world deployments. In comments carried in the NVIDIA blog update, he called robotics “the next major sector here in Korea,” arguing that it is a strong opportunity for Korea to invest in AI and build capabilities beyond software and into deployed systems.
That framing aligns with a broader theme in NVIDIA’s recent coverage of South Korea: building AI infrastructure that can support not only research and cloud services, but also industrial transformation. In a separate NVIDIA newsroom release, the company said South Korea and NVIDIA are working with government and industrial partners to expand sovereign AI infrastructure and AI factories, including a deployment plan described as “over a quarter-million” NVIDIA GPUs across sovereign clouds and AI factories, with additional details on initiatives involving national and enterprise providers.
In the same release, NVIDIA described specific types of infrastructure investment across Korea’s industrial base: the government’s plan to deploy tens of thousands of GPUs through national compute initiatives and cloud partners; and large-scale “AI factory” builds tied to sectors such as semiconductors, manufacturing, telecommunications, and automotive. NVIDIA also described work with industry and research institutions on next-generation communications infrastructure that supports network-edge intelligence - an important ingredient for deploying AI in physical environments where latency, power use, and connectivity matter.
Even with the high-level emphasis, NVIDIA did not provide a detailed list of which Seoul partners Huang met on this trip, nor did it disclose any new, named procurement contracts or exact shipment volumes tied to the “second half” timeline referenced in the blog. The update also does not break out which specific components of the AI supply chain - such as server builds, networking, storage, or software layers - will be the focus of the alignment effort in Korea.
What to watch next is how broadly Vera Rubin’s production ramp translates into deployed capacity across Korean sovereign clouds and industrial AI programs. If NVIDIA’s stated ramp pace continues, the second half could bring more visible scaling of AI factory-style deployments aimed at agentic workloads, alongside more robotics and physical AI experimentation as Korea’s ecosystem tries to convert sovereign infrastructure into real-world productivity gains. In the near term, expect follow-on announcements from Korean cloud providers and system integrators as they translate NVIDIA’s hardware readiness into operational deployments.
Why It Matters
- Supply-chain alignment indicates that NVIDIA expects continued demand intensity as next-generation systems move from rollout phases into broader scaling.
- South Korea’s focus on sovereign infrastructure suggests AI capabilities may be increasingly localized, potentially accelerating deployment timelines for national priorities.
- Huang’s emphasis on robotics points to a strategic shift from primarily cloud-and-model investment toward physical deployments where hardware, networking, and operations must work together.
- If Vera Rubin’s ramp supports agentic workload growth, Korea-based cloud and industrial partners could become early testbeds for AI “factories” aimed at real production workflows.
Sources
- NVIDIA Blog - “Seoul Purpose: How NVIDIA and South Korea Are Building the Future of AI” (June 4, 2026)
- NVIDIA Investor Relations - “NVIDIA Vera Rubin Ramps Into Full Production to Power Agentic AI Factories Worldwide”
- NVIDIA Newsroom - “NVIDIA, South Korea Government and Industrial Giants Build AI Infrastructure and Ecosystem to Fuel Korea Innovation, Indu
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Key Facts
- NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang visited Seoul to meet AI infrastructure and robotics partners and discussed aligning the AI supply chain for the second half of the year.
- Huang said Grace Blackwell is performing well and that Vera Rubin is in full production, setting expectations for a busy second half.
- Vera Rubin is NVIDIA’s rack-/pod-scale platform for agentic AI factory workloads, with NVIDIA stating “10x agent throughput” at scale versus the Grace Blackwell platform.
- Huang described robotics and physical AI as a major growth opportunity for South Korea and urged additional AI investment in that area.
- In NVIDIA’s separate coverage of Korea’s AI buildup, the company described a sovereign infrastructure expansion involving government and industrial partners, including a plan characterized as “over a quarter-million” GPUs across sovereign clouds and AI factories.
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