K-AI Strengthens AI Sovereignty with Expansive NVIDIA Partnership and Infrastructure Expansion

Naver and NVIDIA Forge AI Alliance
1.48 Trillion Won Third-Party Allotment
Secures 13 Trillion Won from Brookfield
SK Group and Samsung SDS Expand in the AI Market

Major tech companies from South Korea and the United States are forming an extensive collaboration framework for the future economy by joining forces on large-scale projects involving semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, and AI factories. With the 'San Francisco AI Summit' as a turning point, cooperative efforts between domestic companies and NVIDIA—one of the world's leading GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) suppliers, and thus central to AI factory operations—have become more concrete, prompting analysts to characterize this moment as the full-scale beginning of an 'AI alliance.'

Naver and NVIDIA to Build 200MW AI Factory by 2028

On the 24th (local time), Chairman Lee Haejin and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang are seen shaking hands after signing a strategic investment agreement worth 1 billion dollars at NVIDIA headquarters in California, USA. Provided by Naver.

◆ Naver and NVIDIA to Build 200MW AI Factory by 2028

On the 27th, Naver announced that it had signed a strategic investment agreement with NVIDIA for a third-party allotment of new shares, raising 1 billion dollars (1.48 trillion won). Naver is also securing the capital required to procure approximately 9 billion dollars (about 13.16 trillion won) for large-scale GPU infrastructure and data centers through a global investment company, Brookfield. Naver has designated Brookfield as the exclusive preferred negotiating partner and is in discussions to finalize an official contract. With this agreement, Naver will quickly address the key challenges of securing GPUs and equipment for its AI Factory business.

This investment from NVIDIA is a follow-up to the 'gigawatt (GW)-scale global AI factory construction agreement' that the two companies announced in June. This is the first time in 22 years—and since Naver transitioned to KOSPI in 2008—that it has pursued a third-party allotment of new shares. With its investment of 1 billion dollars, NVIDIA will acquire a 4.5% stake in Naver (7,241,564 shares of common stock). Upon completion of the investment, NVIDIA is expected to become Naver's third-largest shareholder, after the National Pension Service and BlackRock.

By ramping up this joint AI factory initiative with NVIDIA, Naver plans to expand its operations beyond Korea to markets in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Naver will use all of the funds raised through the share issue for new AI factory businesses. The scheduled investments are approximately 5 billion won for this year, 692 billion won for next year, and about 783.8 billion won after 2028. In addition, through a preliminary agreement with global alternative investment firm Brookfield, Naver will secure the latest GPUs and data centers capable of operating hundreds of megawatts (MW) of AI factory capacity.

Starting in 2027, Naver intends to generate revenue from its AI factory business. Initially, it will launch a 55MW AI factory at the 'Gak Sejong' data center in the first half of 2027, and then scale up to 200MW in 2028 and eventually to the GW-level.

Naver CEO Suyeon Choi stated, "The investments from NVIDIA and Brookfield will be a major turning point for Naver's future growth," adding, "We will accelerate client acquisition for the AI factory business, making this a pivotal moment for Naver's emergence as a key global player in AI infrastructure."

On the 24th (local time), after signing a strategic investment agreement between Naver and NVIDIA at the NVIDIA headquarters, (from the second left) Naver's Donghyun Koo, Head of Strategic Planning; Bongseok Yoo, Chief Revenue Officer; Heechul Kim, Chief Financial Officer; Suyeon Choi, CEO; Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA; Jaehyun Lee, Chairman of the Board at Naver; Madison Huang, Senior Director of NVIDIA; Yuwon Kim, CEO of Naver Cloud; and (third from the right) Jeonghoon Lee, CFO of Naver Cloud, were photographed together. Photo by Yonhap News.

SK Group, Samsung SDS Expand in AI Market… Korea Emerges as a Key Pillar in the Global AI Supply Chain

The broad AI collaborations between major U.S. tech companies—such as NVIDIA—and Korean firms are seen as evidence that South Korea is emerging as a pivotal hub for the global AI supply chain. The joint South Korea-U.S. AI cooperation agreement, announced alongside President Jae-myung Lee's 'San Fran AI Declaration' on the 24th (local time), amounts to about 1,400 trillion won and is regarded as not simply an investment partnership, but as a clear statement of South Korea's intent to establish itself as a core 'global AI hub.'

SK Group is advancing plans to construct domestic 2GW-class AI clouds and AI factories through a comprehensive collaboration with NVIDIA valued at over 500 billion dollars. This AI cloud will be built atop NVIDIA's DSX platform and incorporate NVIDIA's Vera Rubin accelerated computing systems equipped with SK hynix HBM4. SK Telecom and NVIDIA will increase large-scale investments in AI infrastructure—spanning sovereign AI, physical AI, agentic AI, and enterprise AI services—collaborating to meet the heightened demand for AI computing in Asia-Pacific, including South Korea.

Samsung SDS is forging a strategic partnership with Anthropic to expand in the enterprise AI market. The two parties will work together to unlock new business opportunities in South Korea—pursuing joint marketing, technology proof-of-concept (PoC) verifications, and joint ventures. They will also foster the development of applied AI engineers responsible for building and operating Claude. Samsung SDS currently provides Claude Enterprise to approximately 70,000 employees at 20 Samsung affiliates, and plans to extend its support for the entire process of adopting and utilizing Claude to external clients as it gradually expands its AX (AI Transformation) business.

Samsung SDS President Junhee Lee commented, "This strategic partnership marks the start of a shared drive for growth in the domestic AI market—combining Anthropic’s AI technologies and Samsung SDS's track record in digital transformation across industries. Based on the strengths of both companies, we aim to support our clients’ AI innovation and create new business value through trustworthy AI solutions."

On the 24th (local time), Samsung SDS President Junhee Lee and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posed for a commemorative photo after signing a strategic partnership agreement (SPA) at the AI Summit held at The Midway in San Francisco, USA, with President Jae-myung Lee in attendance. On the right is Samsung Electronics Chairman Jeyong Lee. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

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