[Edaily Reporter Lee So-Hyun ] Naver (NAVER(035420)) is welcoming NVIDIA, the world’s leading AI semiconductor company, as its third-largest shareholder. The relationship between the two companies, which began with the supply of graphics processing units (GPUs) and technological cooperation, has expanded into a “shareholding alliance” in which they share in Naver’s growth and the success of its AI Factory business.

Among South Korea’s two leading platforms—collectively known as “Nekao” (Naver + Kakao)—Naver has made a bold move in the AI era by attracting capital from a global technology company, while Kakao has maintained a relatively low profile, focusing on its proprietary AI models and the KakaoTalk service.

On the 27th, Naver announced that it had decided to conduct a third-party private placement worth $1 billion (approximately 1.46 trillion won) with NVIDIA. This marks Naver’s first third-party private placement in 22 years and the first since its listing on the KOSPI market in 2008.

NVIDIA’s investment is a follow-up to the “Agreement to Build a Gigawatt (GW)-Scale Mega Global AI Factory” announced by the two companies last June. NVIDIA will acquire 7,241,564 new shares of Naver. Once the payment is completed on October 30, NVIDIA is expected to secure approximately a 4.5% stake, becoming the third-largest shareholder after the National Pension Service and BlackRock.

NVIDIA’s projected stake is higher than the approximately 3.8% held by Naver founder and Board Chairman Lee Hae-jin. This is highly symbolic, as a global technology company will hold a larger stake than the founder himself.

NVIDIA will become more than just a supplier of GPUs; it will become a strategic shareholder with a direct stake in Naver’s corporate value and the success of its AI Factory business. By forming this equity alliance with NVIDIA, Naver is effectively staking the company’s future on its AI infrastructure business.

Additionally, Naver announced today that it is in exclusive negotiations with Brookfield, the world’s leading global alternative investment firm, to secure GPU and data center infrastructure worth up to $9 billion (approximately 13 trillion won). The plan is to strengthen its GPU supply chain through NVIDIA with a total investment of $10 billion and combine Brookfield’s capital with physical infrastructure—such as data centers and power—to address the challenges facing the AI Factory.

Analysts predict that Naver’s standing in the global AI market will rise significantly, as it has been selected simultaneously by both NVIDIA and Brookfield—key partners in the global technology and capital markets.

Naver plans to begin generating revenue by launching a 55 MW AI Factory at its data center in the first half of 2027, expanding to 200 MW in 2028 and eventually reaching 1 GW in the long term.

Kakao, which led the “Nekao” era in the mobile age, appears to be taking a step back during this AI transition. While Naver is expanding its reach as a global AI infrastructure provider, Kakao is focusing on an internalization strategy of integrating AI into KakaoTalk, which has 50 million users. Although it possesses the powerful asset of KakaoTalk, it is assessed as being limited to the domestic market. The Kakao labor union (Crew Union) has staged its first-ever strike since the company’s founding, and no common ground has been found to resolve the labor-management conflict.

The market reacted immediately to Naver’s AI infrastructure gambit. Naver’s stock price jumped by more than 10% at one point early in the trading session, reflecting expectations for a capital alliance with NVIDIA. The stock closed at 225,000 won, up 8.43% from the previous session.