Naver's artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure capabilities are gaining renewed attention following a meeting between Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and Lee Hae-jin, chairman of Naver's board. The partnership is expected to play a significant role in NVIDIA's Sovereign AI and AI Factory strategies.
According to the IT industry, Huang arrived at Gimpo Airport around 1 p.m. on June 5 and is scheduled to engage in various activities during his visit. That evening, he is expected to meet with Lee, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo at a pork belly restaurant near Hongdae in Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Industry observers are keenly watching whether this meeting will solidify the collaboration between Naver and NVIDIA in AI infrastructure, Sovereign AI, and Physical AI. Naver is strengthening its partnership with NVIDIA based on Naver Cloud, focusing on the AI Factory and Sovereign AI as common areas of interest. The company is expanding its business as a full-stack AI provider that connects data centers, cloud, and AI applications.
Notably, during his keynote at 'GTC Taipei 2026' on June 1, Huang highlighted Naver Cloud as a key partner in the global AI native cloud, emphasizing the cooperative relationship between the two companies. Kim Yoo-won, CEO of Naver Cloud, also unveiled plans for a full-stack AI partnership with NVIDIA and the vision for a global AI Factory.
The AI Factory is a dedicated infrastructure that integrates data centers, cloud, AI models, training and inference environments, and enterprise AI services. Naver Cloud aims to target the AI Factory market with its data centers in Chuncheon and Sejong, the Naver Cloud platform, and HyperClovaX.
Technological collaboration with NVIDIA is also expanding. Naver Cloud is advancing HyperClovaX based on NVIDIA's Nemo framework and NeMoTron. The company is collaborating on data preprocessing, training, and optimization using 4,224 Blackwell B200 GPUs and has joined NVIDIA's open model alliance, the NeMoTron Coalition.
Since introducing NVIDIA's DGX SuperPOD in 2020, Naver has expanded its business into the B2B AI infrastructure sector, gaining extensive experience in large-scale AI infrastructure operations. The company provides AI models and GPU as a Service (GPUaaS) to various enterprises and institutions, including Hyundai, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and the Bank of Korea, and is participating in the establishment of a national AI computing center.
Naver envisions building and operating a global AI Factory in partnership with NVIDIA, aiming to become a hub for AI infrastructure in Asia. To achieve this, the company plans to broaden its business scope to include GPUaaS, AI platforms, and applications, with a long-term goal of becoming a global AI Factory provider.
The Physical AI sector is also a noteworthy aspect of the collaboration. Naver Cloud has developed the 'Seoul World Model' based on NVIDIA's Physical AI model, 'Cosmos,' incorporating high-resolution map data of Seoul.
Additionally, Huang is scheduled to visit Naver's 1784 headquarters on June 8. Industry insiders believe this visit will provide an opportunity to assess Naver Cloud's AI infrastructure and its capabilities in robotics and Physical AI technologies.
Analysts suggest that Huang's visit could lead to a reevaluation of Naver as a candidate for an AI infrastructure hub in Asia. From NVIDIA's perspective, Naver is seen as a partner that can showcase a Sovereign AI model combining local language, data, and cloud infrastructure outside of major tech players in the U.S. and China.
An industry source stated, "This meeting could be a pivotal moment for Naver to establish itself as a reference point for the expansion of non-English AI factories through its strengthened partnership with NVIDIA."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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