Seoul, Feb 17 (IANS): The government plans to acquire 10,000 high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) within this year to accelerate the launch of a national artificial intelligence (AI) computing centre, acting President Choi Sang-mok said on Monday.

As of the end of 2023, South Korea had approximately 2,000 GPUs, which are crucial for AI development, amid global competition over large-scale AI infrastructure projects, such as the Stargate Project in the United States. The GPUs to be acquired include Nvidia Corp.'s H100 and H200, reports Yonhap news agency.

"Through public-private cooperation, we aim to secure 10,000 high-performance GPUs within this year to launch the national AI computing center early," Choi said.

Choi made the remarks during a committee meeting aimed at positioning South Korea as one of the world's top three AI powerhouses. The committee was established to facilitate discussions between the government and the private sector.

GPUs play a crucial role in AI, delivering top-tier performance for AI training and inference. They also provide significant advantages across various applications that require accelerated computing.

Meanwhile, South Korea will work to open a national AI computing centre by 2027 as part of efforts to strengthen its competitiveness in the fast-evolving technology.

The government will create the AI centre with a computing capacity of 1 exaflops through a joint investment worth 2.5 trillion won (US$1.7 billion) from the public and private sectors, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Prior to the official opening of a new AI computing centre, the government will push to secure advanced graphic processing units (GPUs), which play a crucial role in AI, and start service before the end of this year to provide timely help to local companies and researchers in the field, it said.

The move is aimed at swiftly building up the AI infrastructure and turning the country into one of three global powers in the field, ministry officials explained.