Korean GPU Orders Rise Before Vera Rubin as Scandal Triggers Review

South Korean buyers are placing orders for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin data center GPUs months before shipment, while some now pay roughly 50% of the purchase price upfront.

Demand in South Korea continues to strengthen by the day. The government is reviewing the domestic GPU supply chain in response to the scandal surrounding Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and is monitoring the potential effect on South Korea’s AI industry.

Information technology industry sources said on the 12th that inquiries to place orders through Nvidia distributors had begun pouring in months before the Vera Rubin shipment. Vera Rubin is Nvidia’s latest family of AI chips.

Previously, Nvidia and its distributors began accepting orders in line with the start of full-scale mass production for Ampere, Hopper and Blackwell.

Distributors said the current mood is markedly different from those launch cycles. Supply has been slow to follow growing demand to secure the latest GPUs early, so Korean buyers now place orders first.

How are advance payments changing GPU procurement?

Domestic master distributors are increasingly demanding advance payments on large GPU orders. Under the standard hardware payment sequence, customers pay after delivery and after verifying that products are free of defects.

Orders worth tens of billions to hundreds of billions of won have multiplied amid the rush to build AI data centers. Master distributors have inserted advance-payment clauses to shore up cash liquidity and secure delivery safeguards.

In some cases, Korean GPU buyers pay roughly half the purchase price upfront to either distributors or master distributors. A domestic Nvidia GPU distributor official said advance-payment contracts “were probably not unheard of in the past,” but said the arrangements now appear more frequent because GPU demand is so strong.

Takeaway: Korean buyers now finance a larger share of GPU purchases before the products arrive.

What do multiyear commitments secure?

Some companies want guaranteed priority access to Nvidia supply in return for committing to purchases over several years. One Korean company has pledged to buy GPUs over the next three to four years in exchange for guaranteed supply.

One Korean company asked an overseas original equipment manufacturer of Nvidia servers whether discount rates on server products could be set in advance for the next three to four years. During that period, the company would buy Nvidia GPU servers through the OEM.

Nvidia typically unveils a new GPU family every two to three years. On that product cadence, the three-to-four-year proposal represents an attempt to lock in supply through the generation that follows Vera Rubin.

Takeaway: Longer purchase commitments and advance discounts have become tools for securing scarce GPU supply.

Could the Huang scandal disrupt South Korean procurement?

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang faces a risk of losing management control amid successive allegations of infidelity. South Korean companies are not expected to face major disruptions in GPU procurement for now.

The Ministry of Science and ICT checked the procurement status of companies that bought GPUs this year as soon as reports emerged last week about Huang’s affair and allegations that Alice Huang, the woman involved, was a Chinese spy. Most companies said they had signed firm purchase contracts and faced no significant problems receiving the products.

The head of a public institution under the ministry said it was “necessary to closely examine” whether Huang’s status would affect South Korea’s ability to secure GPU volumes. The institution would also work to secure GPUs next year as well.

Takeaway: Most buyers report no receipt problems, while the government is checking whether future GPU volumes remain secure.