Naver's AI Factory project has entered its decisive phase: Nvidia's equity investment payment of about 1.5 trillion won (roughly US$ 1 billion) is scheduled for October 30, 2026. According to the paid-in capital increase filing Naver submitted in July, the amount equals about 1.48 trillion won at the exchange rate at the time of the filing, at 204,500 won per share, and would give Nvidia a stake of approximately 4.5% in the company.
The US$ 9 billion infrastructure condition
To receive the funds, Naver must meet prerequisites, including securing computing infrastructure worth at least US$ 9 billion. To that end, the company signed a non-binding preliminary agreement with Brookfield on July 22, naming it the exclusive preferred negotiating party, and has been advancing talks toward a formal contract. Under the proposed structure, Brookfield would raise up to US$ 9 billion through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) after the main contract is signed, to acquire assets such as GPUs and data-centre facilities. Nvidia would supply the GPUs and related technologies, and Naver would run the AI computing business through a wholly owned subsidiary yet to be created.
The plan calls for operations to begin at the Sejong hyperscale data centre, Gak Sejong, with 55 megawatts in the first half of 2027, expanding to 100 MW by the end of 2027 and 200 MW in 2028, as the first phase of a larger gigawatt-scale AI Factory plan. The structure is designed to reduce Naver's upfront cost of buying GPUs and facilities directly.
The next hurdle: customer contracts
After financing, the challenge becomes turning the investment into revenue through external contracts. Naver has said it expects AI Factory-related revenue from the first half of 2027, and some brokerages estimate about 1 trillion won from this line in 2027 — analyst projections, not figures confirmed by the company. Kyobo Securities analyst Kim Dong-woo assesses that Naver is negotiating with several customers to assemble a more advantageous mix of contracts than a single long-term deal, while NH Investment & Securities analyst Ahn Jae-min projects that contracts with major tenant customers could be disclosed by the end of the year and that results should show up from the third quarter of 2027, once the 55 MW data centre is completed.
Image credit: Naver, via DigitalToday.
Sources: DigitalToday — Nvidia's 1.5 trillion won investment nears, putting Naver AI Factory to test; AIStockWire — Nvidia takes 4.5% of Korea's Naver in $1B AI deal.
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts and the internet sources listed below. We recommend consulting the original sources to confirm the details.
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