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Nvidia plans $1 billion investment in Naver; shares surge 10%
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Shares of South Korean internet and cloud giant Naver surged over 10% after announcing that Nvidia will acquire $1 billion of its new shares to fund an AI data center expansion. The deal is part of a deepening partnership between the two firms, which in June agreed to jointly build global AI infrastructure. As a first step, Naver, Nvidia, and investment group Brookfield announced plans to expand Naver's AI data center in Sejong, South Korea, with up to $10 billion in funding. Brookfield will provide $9 billion as capital partner. Nvidia will own a 4.5% stake in Naver, becoming one of its largest shareholders. The expansion will use Nvidia's Vera Rubin and Blackwell chips and reach 200 megawatts by 2028. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that Naver would become 10 times larger once the vision is realized, emphasizing the strategy for nations to build and control their own AI infrastructure.
Source report
Reuters Sun, July 26, 2026 at 4:04 PM PDT | 2 min read
- 035420.KS: -5.54%
- NVDA: -4.99%
- BAM: +2.61%
SEOUL, July 27 (Reuters) — Shares of South Korean internet and cloud service giant Naver jumped more than 10% on Monday after it announced that Nvidia would acquire $1 billion of its new shares to finance a project expanding an AI data centre.
The move underscores a deepening partnership between the two companies, which in June announced plans to build global AI infrastructure to meet demand for sovereign AI in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East.
As the first step, Naver, Nvidia, and investment group Brookfield announced on Friday plans to expand Naver's AI data centre in South Korea with up to $10 billion in funding.
Naver said on Monday it will place 7.2 million new shares with Nvidia at 204,500 won each — a 1% discount to its closing price on Friday — as part of the agreement. Brookfield will provide up to $9 billion in financing as the project's capital partner, Naver added.
With the investment, Nvidia would become one of Naver's largest shareholders, owning a 4.5% stake. As of the end of 2025, the National Pension Service was Naver's biggest shareholder with a 9.25% stake, followed by BlackRock Fund Advisors with 6.12%.
The expansion will be built at Naver's GAK data centre in Sejong, South Korea, using Nvidia's Vera Rubin and Blackwell chip platforms. It will have a capacity of 200 megawatts by 2028.
In June, Naver and Nvidia announced an agreement to jointly pursue the development of gigawatt-scale global AI infrastructure in South Korea and overseas. When the deal was announced, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Naver would be 10 times larger once the vision was realised.
One gigawatt is approximately four times the maximum capacity of GAK Sejong, South Korea's largest hyperscale data centre operated by Naver. According to Naver, this scale is capable of accommodating hundreds of thousands of Nvidia's latest GPUs at once.
Huang has argued that nations should build and control their own AI infrastructure — a strategy that could broaden Nvidia's customer base beyond major U.S. hyperscalers.
Nvidia has invested in AI, cloud, and other companies, including a $30 billion investment in OpenAI and a $10 billion investment in Anthropic.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Jamie Freed
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