South Korea’s AI growth goal is facing an unexpected obstacle. The country’s mega-budget supercomputer project has been seriously delayed due to chip supply issues worldwide. The $2 billion project, called Supercomputer No. 6, which will accelerate AI research, has been postponed until 2026.
South Korea’s supercomputer dreams face chip shortage
The main reason for the delay is the explosion in demand for AI chips globally. GPUs, especially from companies like Nvidia and AMD, are vital for training AI models. However, the limited capacity of these chips makes it difficult for South Korea to access the hardware.
The fact that current supercomputers are operating at 90 percent capacity highlights the urgent need for computing in the country. Accordingly, the government is looking for alternative solutions to ensure that this delay does not disrupt its ambitious AI goals.
It plans to strengthen its collaborations with domestic chip manufacturers and turn to cloud-based services for AI research. However, it seems difficult for these alternatives to completely close the chip gap in the short term.
While investments in AI are increasing rapidly around the world, major players such as the US and China are in a fierce race to take the lead in this field. The delay experienced by South Korea shows that even technologically advanced countries can face difficulties in this race.
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