Naver is a major South Korean internet and technology company with businesses in search, e-commerce and cloud. Recent coverage has focused on AI infrastructure: Nvidia is investing $1 billion in Naver for a 4.54% stake, making it the third-largest shareholder, while Naver secured Brookfield backing for a $9 billion AI data center buildout and plans a wholly owned unit to sell AI computing services. Seoul also picked Naver among five firms to lead its sovereign AI model push.
Nvidia to invest $1 bn in Naver for 4.54% stakeNvidia will invest $1 billion in Naver for a 4.54% stake, becoming its third-largest shareholder ahead of founder Lee Hae-jin. Naver also secured Brookfield backing for a $9 billion AI data center buildout and plans a wholly owned subsidiary to sell AI computing services.
Korean AI server distributors boom on GPU demandKED Global reports Korean AI server distributors such as Kolon Benit and Etevers are on track for record revenue as firms scramble for GPU capacity, though 4-5% operating margins remain a challenge. It also notes KT and KT Cloud's 6 trillion won ($4.4B) five-year data center plan and Naver's planned unit to sell Nvidia-Brookfield-backed AI factory compute.
Korean AI Startups Go Global; Upstage Climbs OpenRouter RankingsKorean AI startups are expanding globally, with Upstage rising in OpenRouter rankings. Meanwhile, Samsung and SK Hynix joined a strategic investment in Anthropic, and Seoul picked five firms including LG, Naver and SK Telecom to lead its sovereign AI model push.
The A.I. Daily