Naver is poised to transition from a domestic search and commerce-focused internet platform to a global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and platform company. With investments from Nvidia and global alternative asset manager Brookfield, Naver plans to establish a 'sovereign AI' ecosystem that is not dependent on specific global tech giants or nations, while expanding its data center, cloud, and AI capabilities into the global market.
On July 26, the information technology (IT) industry reported that Lee Hae-jin, chairman of Naver's board, announced at the 'AI San Francisco Summit' hosted by President Lee Jae-myung on July 24 in San Francisco that the company secured a total investment of $10 billion (approximately 14.7 trillion won) from Nvidia and Brookfield.
During the meeting at Nvidia's headquarters, Lee and Naver executives, including CEO Choi Soo-yeon, discussed plans to expand a global AI factory with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Naver aims to leverage the capital, technology, and global networks of both companies to build a gigawatt (GW)-scale AI factory and expand its global AI infrastructure business.
Lee emphasized that this investment marks a significant change for Naver as it enters a new phase. Analysts believe that the global brands and networks of Nvidia and Brookfield will serve as a springboard for Naver to expand its technological and operational expertise on a global scale.
This investment is expected to not only fund Naver's GW-scale AI factory but also assist the company in entering the global market. The AI factory will combine large-scale GPUs, networks, and power and cooling facilities with AI models and cloud services to provide computational power for AI training and inference. Naver previously announced plans to begin operations of a 55-megawatt (MW) AI factory in the first half of next year, with a goal of achieving a total infrastructure of 1 GW by 2028.
With this investment, Naver can now expand its 30 years of accumulated data center, cloud, and AI technology into global operations. Although Naver has built its capabilities in search, commerce, and content services, it has faced limitations in entering and expanding in the global market due to a lack of large capital and overseas business networks.
As Naver's global AI factory takes shape, its data centers are expected to evolve from providing infrastructure for its own services to offering AI computational resources and cloud services to external clients as a revenue-generating business. The scope of operations will also expand from portal services like search and commerce to supporting AI development as a production platform, transforming Naver from a domestic internet market player to a global AI infrastructure provider.
Industry observers note that Naver's global business targets may extend beyond foreign companies to include national-level initiatives aimed at building independent AI ecosystems. At the AI San Francisco Summit, Lee stressed the importance of respecting the diversity of AI technologies and services among nations, companies, and groups. This suggests that Naver aims to differentiate itself in the sovereign AI market by reflecting the languages, cultures, systems, and data sovereignty of various countries, rather than competing solely on the performance of general AI models.
Lee stated, "The internet world that Naver envisions is not one dominated by one or two groups. To preserve the diversity of the world, various AIs must emerge and operate for each nation, group, and individual. Naver will do its utmost to create a world where diverse AIs coexist in collaboration with global companies."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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