Naver Secures USD 10 Billion Investment from Nvidia and Brookfield… AI Factory to Launch in 2027 (Comprehensive)

Nvidia Acquires 4.5% Stake in Naver, Becoming Third-Largest Shareholder

4.9 Million Treasury Shares to Be Retired, Worth KRW 1 Trillion

Naver has secured USD 10 billion in funding from Nvidia and global investment firm Brookfield, embarking on efforts to secure leadership in the global AI infrastructure market through its AI Factory. With this investment, Nvidia is set to become Naver's third-largest shareholder.

On July 27, Naver announced that it had entered into a strategic investment agreement to raise USD 1 billion (KRW 1.48 trillion) through a third-party allocation of new shares to Nvidia. In addition, Naver will secure USD 9 billion (approximately KRW 13.16 trillion) through global investment firm Brookfield to finance the acquisition of GPU infrastructure and data centers. Naver has designated Brookfield as its exclusive preferred negotiation partner and is currently engaged in discussions to finalize the contract.

Naver Headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Naver explained that this agreement allows it to rapidly solve the critical issues of GPU acquisition and equipment procurement for its AI Factory business.

This investment from Nvidia follows the "gigawatt (GW)-scale global AI Factory construction agreement" announced by the two parties in June. It marks Naver’s first third-party share allocation in 22 years and the first since its move to the KOSPI in 2008.

Through its USD 1 billion investment, Nvidia will acquire a 4.5% equity stake in Naver, amounting to 7,241,564 common shares. Upon completion of the full investment, Nvidia will become Naver's third-largest shareholder after the National Pension Service and BlackRock. The payment deadline is set for October 30, and the new shares will be listed on November 20.

Naver plans to use all proceeds from the paid-in capital increase for new initiatives related to the AI Factory. The scheduled annual allocation amounts are approximately KRW 5 billion this year, about KRW 692 billion next year, and approximately KRW 783.8 billion from 2028 onwards.

Previously, on July 24 (local time), Naver Chairman Lee Haejin and CEO Choi Sooyoun signed the strategic investment agreement at Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in attendance.

Additionally, through a preliminary agreement with Brookfield, a global alternative investment firm, Naver will secure the latest GPUs and data centers for operating AI Factories with hundreds of megawatts (MW) of capacity. Brookfield is at the forefront of investment in AI infrastructure, including data centers and renewable energy.

Full-scale Operation of AI Factory in 2027… KRW 1 Trillion Worth of Treasury Shares to Be Retired

Naver founder and chairman Lee Hae-jin and Naver and NVIDIA officials visiting the NVIDIA headquarters. NVIDIA

Based on these collaborations, Naver plans to begin generating sales from its AI Factory business starting in 2027. It will first commence operations of a 55MW-scale AI Factory at the "Gak Sejong" data center in the first half of 2027, and then expand to 200MW in 2028. Looking ahead, the goal is to further scale this up to 1GW, targeting the demand for sovereign AI infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Middle East markets.

Naver also announced that its subsidiary, Naver Cloud, is positively discussing an "AI Compute Partnership" agreement with Nvidia to jointly promote the global AI Factory business. The partnership is expected to encompass technology collaboration, demand, and capital investment.

Naver explained that, having already established full-stack AI capabilities—including data centers, GPU clusters, AI platforms, and proprietary models and services—it is well-positioned to accelerate the launch of its AI Factory services.

Meanwhile, Naver is also proceeding with a large-scale retirement of treasury shares to enhance shareholder value. The company announced that, at its Board of Directors meeting on July 24, it decided to retire 4.9 million treasury shares worth approximately KRW 1 trillion on August 3.

Naver CEO Choi Sooyoun stated, "The investments from Nvidia and Brookfield will serve as a significant milestone for Naver's future growth. This investment provides a highly encouraging opportunity to rapidly enter the global AI infrastructure market with Naver's technology and infrastructure." She added, "We will speed up attracting AI Factory customers and use this as a turning point for Naver to become a key player in the global AI infrastructure sector."

Naver Chairman Lee Haejin commented, "By attracting investments from Nvidia and Brookfield, Naver now has the opportunity to scale up its accumulated data center operation technology and know-how on a global stage. We will continue to actively collaborate with companies worldwide to realize an AI ecosystem where the diversity of nations and communities is respected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.