Naver Meets Nvidia’s $1 Billion Investment شرط After $9 Billion Infrastructure Deal
Key Facts
Naver said on October 27 that its agreement with Brookfield to secure $9 billion in computing infrastructure met the preliminary condition for Nvidia’s strategic equity investment in the company. The announcement puts Nvidia’s planned investment at a later stage in arranging financing for the AI factory project, after it had been tied to securing separate project funding. Nvidia said in a July 24 announcement that it planned to invest $1 billion in Naver. At the time, it required Naver to secure at least $9 billion in committed financing for the project, separate from Nvidia’s investment. Naver’s statement did not confirm that the capital increase had been completed or that the investment had been paid, and said details would be announced later.
According to Naver’s statement, Brookfield will establish a special-purpose company, provisionally named Asset Co., and invest up to $9 billion to acquire AI infrastructure assets. The assets include GPUs and data centers, with the company providing computing capacity to NAVER Cloud. The structure thus separates Nvidia’s investment in Naver shares from Brookfield’s financing of the assets the factory needs. Naver said in September that Brookfield had committed to investing up to $9 billion in the first 200-megawatt phase of a project targeting a total capacity of 1 gigawatt. In October, Naver linked usage-fee payments to business revenue and said the structure would help it manage financial pressure during the launch phase and improve operational stability.
The companies are targeting the facility’s start-up at 55 megawatts in the first half of 2027, followed by an increase in capacity to 200 megawatts in 2028. The July announcement described the initial phase at the GAK Sejong center as an NVIDIA DSX factory, with a plan to increase capacity from 55 to 200 megawatts by 2028. Nvidia also said in June that Naver would begin expanding sovereign AI infrastructure from 55 megawatts, with a plan to reach gigawatt scale through the DSX platform. Naver said in its September announcement that Brookfield would go beyond the role of a capital investor by providing practical support in efficiently purchasing equipment and infrastructure and helping attract customers. The announced path therefore depends on first equipping the computing capacity, then expanding it according to the target schedule.
The financing is also linked to a guarantee from Naver of NAVER Cloud’s usage-fee obligations for up to 8 years. The company said the guarantee does not by itself create cash outflows or actual cost burdens for it. This comes alongside linking usage fees to business revenue, an arrangement Naver said eases financial pressure in the early stages. In June, Naver described the alliance as going beyond a traditional technology partnership, extending from identifying global demand to capital cooperation. Its chairman, Hyejin Lee, said in July that the planned investment and infrastructure supply agreement had moved the vision for an AI factory into a firmer implementation phase. Jensen Huang said AI factories represent infrastructure that countries need to compete and innovate in the AI era.
In trading, Nvidia shares closed at $181.6 on November 5, according to EL7 data. Naver shares had jumped more than 10% on July 27, according to Reuters coverage published via Investing.com, after the announcement of a $1 billion new-share purchase. Reuters reported at the time that the planned investment would give Nvidia a 4.5% stake in Naver and make it one of the company’s major shareholders. The timing for completing the capital increase remains unspecified in the company’s statement, which said specific details of the third-party allotment would be announced later. Operationally, the first half of 2027 is the target for starting operations at 55 megawatts, ahead of the announced expansion to 200 megawatts in 2028.