Coupang makes GPU contract bid, hinting at cloud market entry
Coupang has made a surprise entry into a government-led bid to secure and operate high-performance graphics processing units, signaling potential ambitions beyond its current e-commerce focus.
The e-commerce giant is among four companies — including Naver Cloud, Kakao Enterprise and NHN Cloud — that have submitted bids for the Ministry of Science and ICT's 1.46 trillion won ($1.07 billion) GPU infrastructure support project, according to industry sources Monday.
Under the initiative, the government plans to purchase 10,000 high-performance GPUs through its first supplementary budget and provide GPU services to companies and researchers over five years. The final operator will be selected next month.
While Coupang declined to comment on its participation, sources view the move as a strategic attempt to gain operational experience in GPU-as-a-service, potentially laying the groundwork for a future pivot into the cloud services market.
"This marks Coupang's first known foray into a government tech infrastructure project of this scale,' said an industry source who requested anonymity. 'Although it has not publicly operated GPUaaS, its internal services like Coupang Play and Coupang Eats have long leveraged GPU resources, possibly helping it meet the eligibility requirements.'
'Coupang, emerging as a dark horse in the recent GPU acquisition initiative, may be strategically aiming to solidify its identity as a competitive cloud service provider through this move. … Otherwise, it's difficult to justify the company's participation in the project, especially considering the massive costs associated with data center space rentals,' the source added.
The unexpected bid has drawn considerable attention, with speculation mounting that Coupang aims to evolve into a cloud service provider, much like Amazon's trajectory from e-commerce to dominance in Amazon Web Services.
Industry watchers have observed that Coupang is stepping up its infrastructure push. The company is reportedly working with Singapore-based Empyrion DC to lease space at the KR1 data center in Seoul's Yangjae area, while accelerating talent acquisition in cloud and GPU operations.
'Coupang has consistently benchmarked Amazon's business model,' said a source familiar with the matter. 'It now appears to be eyeing the next frontier -- emulating AWS.'
Despite the ambitions, skepticism remains. Unlike its competitors, Coupang lacks a track record of large-scale GPU service deployment. Naver Cloud, Kakao Enterprise and NHN Cloud already operate substantial GPU clusters and have established GPUaaS platforms. This could put Coupang at a disadvantage when it comes to technical evaluations.
'Coupang is not disqualified by regulation,' the anonymous source said. 'But its limited hands-on experience with GPU infrastructure could be a critical shortfall.'
Stability remains a priority for the government's GPU project, the official added: 'The ability to quickly recover from system failures is key, and Coupang's capabilities in this area have yet to be publicly proven.'
Industry observers are now watching to see whether Coupang can leverage this opportunity to transform into a next-generation cloud provider and challenge South Korea's established cloud service players.
'Coupang has been heavily investing in infrastructure talent,' another anonymous industry source said. 'If it can gain practical experience through a project of this scale, it could rapidly internalize GPU technology and accelerate its pivot into cloud computing.'
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