Nvidia Backs NAVER with $1 Billion to Boost South Korea’s AI Ecosystem

As part of a larger initiative to enhance AI data center infrastructure in South Korea, NVIDIA Corp plans to invest approximately $1 billion in NAVER Corp. The plan was unveiled on July 25th, during South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's attendance at the AI Summit in San Francisco.

Further, it would increase the capacity of NAVER's GAK Sejong AI data centre from 55 MW to 200 MW by 2028. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd has offered a funding proposal of up to $9 billion to support the AI infrastructure. According to a regulatory filing made by NAVER on 27 July, NVIDIA intends to invest $1 billion and will purchase 7.2 million newly issued shares at 204,500 KRW ($139.45) each. This represents a reduction of around 1% to NAVER's closing price on 24 July.

Win-Win Deal for Both the Nvidia and Naver

NVIDIA will no longer be involved as a revenue-sharing partner but rather as a supplier of GPUs for the AI data centre, according to NAVER's revised partnership structure. According to NVIDIA, Vera Rubin and Blackwell systems are set to be deployed in the larger facility. Consequently, supplying businesses, startups, and government agencies with AI computer resources on a production scale. The effort, according to the firms, would help South Koreans create and use AI models and apps of the future.

This agreement takes forward a cooperation that was first announced in June, when NAVER stated its intention to utilise NVIDIA technology to bolster the growth of AI data centres and AI applications in industry. In June, NVIDIA announced its expansion into South Korea's artificial intelligence ecosystem through partnerships with SK Hynix, SK Telecom, and Doosan.

NVIDIA Forms Strategic Partnership with KAIST

NVIDIA and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have joined forces to form a collaborative artificial intelligence research centre at Seoul's KAIST Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI. Dedicated to developing agentic AI for South Korea, this lab is the first of its kind to be established by a Korean university and any international technology company. The partnership will combine KAIST's scientific prowess with NVIDIA's full-stack AI knowledge, open models from NVIDIA Nemotron, and partner computing from NVIDIA AI Cloud.

Furthermore, an NVIDIA AI Technology Center (NVAITC) is being planned in collaboration with the Mechanical Engineering Department at KAIST. Collaboration, talent development, and information exchange in physical AI, including projects using NVIDIA Nemotron open models, will be supported by the NVAITC. This differs from the agentic AI joint research lab, which has a multi-year commitment to support and educate Korean researchers to meet the demands of local industry and language.

In addition, Seoul National University (SNU) and NVIDIA are in the planning stages of an NVAITC that will centre on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, foundation models, physical AI, accelerated computing, and education in these areas. Part of this will involve using models from NVIDIA's open-world foundations, Cosmos and Nemotron.