Naver Lands $10 Billion AI Factory Backing From Nvidia, Brookfield

Naver teams up with Nvidia on AI factory project

Nvidia agrees to a $1 billion strategic investment

Nvidia to take a 4.5% stake in Naver as the companies pursue joint business

Brookfield to support procurement of $9 billion in GPUs and data centers

Naver Corp. has secured $10 billion in investment and infrastructure backing from Nvidia Corp. and Brookfield Asset Management. Nvidia will acquire a 4.5% stake in Naver, while Brookfield will support procurement of $9 billion in graphics processing units and data center capacity. Naver aims to begin generating revenue next year from its global artificial intelligence factory business.

Naver said July 27 that it will conduct a $1 billion third-party allotment share sale to Nvidia. Nvidia will acquire 7,241,564 common shares in Naver for about 1.48 trillion won, equivalent to roughly $1 billion. The stake amounts to 4.5%, and payment is due by Oct. 30.

The deal marks Naver's first third-party allotment capital increase in 22 years and its first since moving its listing to South Korea's main Kospi market in 2008. It follows the companies' agreement announced last month to build a gigawatt-scale global AI factory.

Naver also signed a preliminary agreement with Brookfield, the alternative asset manager with more than $1 trillion under management, to secure $9 billion in GPU infrastructure and data center capacity. The company named Brookfield its exclusive preferred negotiating partner and plans to procure the latest GPUs and data centers needed for an AI factory of several hundred megawatts.

Combined, Nvidia's investment and the Brookfield partnership total $10 billion. Naver said the agreements give it both GPU supply and an infrastructure procurement base, two core requirements for the AI factory business.

Naver Cloud is also discussing an AI Compute Partnership agreement with Nvidia to jointly pursue the global AI factory business. The arrangement would combine demand and capital as well as technology cooperation. Naver expects Nvidia to participate as a joint partner in Naver Cloud's AI factory business once the talks are completed.

An AI factory combines large-scale GPU clusters and data centers to provide AI computing infrastructure to companies or governments. Naver said it has built capabilities across the sector by directly operating data centers, GPU clusters, AI platforms, and its own AI models and services.

Beyond its own data centers, the company said it has secured and is operating GPU installation space at more than 20 sites across South Korea. It aims to cut the time from resource procurement to service launch to less than a month. Naver said it already operates about 100,000 GPUs, the largest scale in South Korea, in large cluster form and has automated resource management and recovery.

The company also detailed its business timetable. Naver plans to begin operating a 55-megawatt global AI factory in the first half of 2027 and start generating related revenue. By 2028, it plans to expand that to 200 megawatts and then scale it to the gigawatt level. It aims to use that platform to target sovereign AI infrastructure demand in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

Naver also unveiled a shareholder return plan. Its board approved on July 24 the cancellation of 4.9 million treasury shares worth about 1 trillion won, or about $723 million, on Aug. 3.

The agreements were signed July 24 at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin, Chief Executive Officer Choi Soo-yeon and Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang attended.

Lee said the funding from Nvidia and Brookfield gives Naver a chance to scale up its accumulated data center operating technology and know-how on the global stage. He added that Naver will work with companies around the world to build an AI ecosystem that respects the diversity of countries and groups.

Kim Dae-young, Hankyung.com reporter, kdy@hankyung.com