Naver Co. shares surged 9.2% to close at ₩279,000 following the unveiling of a wide-ranging AI infrastructure agreement with Nvidia, a move announced while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was in South Korea.
Under the terms disclosed, Naver will begin expanding sovereign AI infrastructure at a 55-megawatt scale, with a clear intention to progress to gigawatt-scale deployments. The companies said they will use the Nvidia DSX platform to design, construct, and scale full-stack AI platforms intended to serve enterprises, industry participants, and public-sector clients.
Jensen Huang framed the arrangement in decisive terms, saying: "Useful AI has arrived, and demand for AI factories is extraordinary. NAVER is building AI factory infrastructure that will serve its companies, developers and industries. With NVIDIA DSX, we can help Korea scale sovereign intelligence infrastructure for the agentic era - from AI agents to AI factories and physical AI."
The collaboration extends beyond data center construction to model-level work. Naver plans to advance its in-house HyperCLOVA X models by fine-tuning the Nvidia Nemotron 3 Ultra open model with Naver's proprietary data. The companies said HyperCLOVA X models based on Nvidia Nemotron will also provide a platform to support sovereign AI initiatives in Europe and the Middle East. Naver became the first Korean company to join the Nvidia Nemotron Coalition.
Executives from both firms discussed concrete next steps for global expansion. Naver board chairman Lee Hae-jin and Jensen Huang met at Naver's headquarters to map out a specific roadmap and cooperation plans aimed at entering markets across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe together.
The announcement came while broad market conditions were weak. Naver's gain stood in contrast to a near 9% decline in South Korea's KOSPI index during the same session, making Naver a notable outperformer on a day marked by heavy domestic and international selling pressure.
Nvidia's visit to South Korea included additional commercial developments. Alongside the Naver agreement, Nvidia disclosed deals with SK Hynix and Doosan, a wave of announcements that buoyed sentiment around companies exposed to AI infrastructure initiatives.
Market reaction to the Naver-Nvidia tie-up appears to reflect several concrete elements: a formally announced strategic partnership, direct engagement at the CEO level, and a defined multi-year revenue and infrastructure roadmap. Those factors gave investors a visible rationale to re-price Naver even as broader equity markets retreated.
Naver, which operates South Korea's largest online search engine and co-owns the LINE messaging application, has been developing its AI capabilities for several years. Its internal large language models, led by HyperCLOVA X, are central to that strategy; the Nvidia deal both validates and accelerates that direction by combining Naver's models and proprietary data with Nvidia's infrastructure and open-model technology.
Context and implications
By pairing Naver's model development with Nvidia's DSX platform and Nemotron technology, the agreement positions Naver to expand sovereign AI offerings across multiple regions. The scope encompasses hardware and software integration, model fine-tuning using proprietary datasets, and joint go-to-market plans focused on enterprise, industrial, and government customers.
While the immediate market response was positive for Naver shareholders, the deal's significance also reflects broader investor appetite for companies that can demonstrate an actionable AI-infrastructure roadmap and visible executive-level commitments.