Chief Executive Choi Soo-yeon made the pitch at a Korea-France business roundtable in Paris Monday (local time), held during President Lee Jae Myung's state visit.
"We want to combine France's stable energy base and Naver's experience in the AI ecosystem to build an AI factory that European companies and startups can use," she said.
Naver unveiled the project, which it calls an AI factory, with Nvidia Corp. in June. Brookfield Asset Management will commit up to $9 billion through a special purpose vehicle for a first 200-megawatt phase, and Nvidia has taken a $1 billion equity stake in Naver.
Choi told the roundtable that Naver would help French firms and institutions build industry specific systems, citing BOKI, a finance model developed with the Bank of Korea.
The company also pitched Hy-NuRI, a reactor model built with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power that runs cut off from outside networks.
Naver separately signed a memorandum of understanding with France's National Audiovisual Institute to apply its AI to the institute's audiovisual archives. The company invested in Mistral AI in 2024 and operates Naver Labs Europe, a research center in Grenoble.
Naver signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Consultancy Services in New Delhi on April 20 to explore AI, cloud and consumer service business in India.
Naver Cloud's Saudi joint venture, Naver Innovation, signed further agreements at the LEAP 2026 technology show that ran in Riyadh through Sept. 3.
Naver Webtoon has drawn more than 2 million readers in France with over 70 original titles, the company said. Choi presented a $100 million intellectual property adaptation fund at the Lumiere Summit in Saint Paul de Vence on Sept. 7.
AJP Takeaways
- Naver proposed on Sept. 8, 2026, that French companies jointly build AI computing complexes in Europe, speaking at a Korea-France business roundtable in Paris held during President Lee Jae Myung's state visit to France.
- Naver's AI factory project, announced with Nvidia in June 2026, covers a first 200-megawatt phase backed by up to $9 billion arranged by Brookfield Asset Management and a $1 billion equity investment from Nvidia.
- Naver signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Tata Consultancy Services in New Delhi on April 20, 2026, and its Saudi joint venture Naver Innovation exchanged eight agreements at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh in early September 2026.
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