South Korea's two major platform companies, Naver and Kakao, are adopting different strategies to enhance their artificial intelligence (AI) competitiveness. Naver is embarking on a large-scale AI infrastructure project in partnership with global firms, while Kakao is concentrating on expanding its agent-based AI services.
According to industry reports, this divergence was evident during the companies' second-quarter earnings announcements held earlier this month. Naver anticipates that demand for computing will continue to rise with the spread of AI, whereas Kakao believes that the high profitability of infrastructure projects may not be sustainable in the long term.
Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon emphasized that the AI factory is “an investment in a structurally growing market, not a one-time project.” She explained that as computing costs decrease, the adoption of AI and agent utilization will increase, leading to a rise in overall computing demand.
Based on this market outlook, Naver is pursuing an 'AI factory' project worth up to $10 billion in collaboration with Nvidia and Brookfield. The service is set to launch in the first half of next year with a capacity of 55 megawatts (MW), expanding to 100 MW by the end of the same year and aiming for 200 MW by 2028, with long-term plans to scale up to gigawatt (GW) levels.
In the second quarter of this year, Naver reported revenues of 3.3888 trillion won, a 16.2% increase from the same period last year, but its operating profit fell by 0.2% to 520.3 billion won. As the AI factory project gains momentum, managing investment burdens while ensuring stable operating rates with external clients is seen as a challenge.
Naver plans to reduce initial investment burdens by leveraging partner capital. Nvidia is expected to participate in a capital increase of about $1 billion, while Brookfield will invest up to $9 billion through a special purpose vehicle. The construction of GPUs and data centers will be funded by external capital, while Naver's subsidiaries will handle service operations.
In contrast, Kakao has opted to focus on its B2C (business-to-consumer) operations rather than making large-scale infrastructure investments. Kakao CEO Jeong Shin-ae stated, “The expected return on investment for infrastructure projects like establishing AI data centers is not high compared to the financial burden,” adding that Kakao will concentrate on its competitive B2C AI services.
Kakao showed growth in its existing B2C platform business in the second quarter, reporting revenues of 2.0985 trillion won and an operating profit of 277 billion won, marking increases of 9.4% and 35.9%, respectively, from the previous year. The platform segment, which includes TalkBiz, commerce, and mobility/payments, also saw a 17% rise in revenue, reaching 1.2303 trillion won.
Kakao plans to leverage its B2C business foundation to expand its agent-based AI services that connect user intentions to ordering, payment, and reservation through KakaoTalk in partnership with other companies.
The first collaboration is with Coupang Eats. Kakao will link the 'Kanana in KakaoTalk' with Coupang Eats' agent to recommend menus tailored to conversation context and preferences. Additionally, users will be able to complete orders and payments without leaving the KakaoTalk chat room.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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