Korea's AI Surge: Naver, Nvidia, and AI-Run Data Centers

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Korea’s AI Surge: Naver, Nvidia, and AI-Run Data Centers

South Korea leads in AI, with Naver driving earnings and innovations, Nvidia supplying chips, and projects like Concord building autonomous data centers.

Naver’s Q3 Earnings Boom

Naver reported record Q3 results: net profit up 39% to 734.7 billion won ($509M), beating estimates of 474 billion won; revenue rose 16% to 3.138 trillion won; operating profit increased 8.6% to 570.6 billion won. AI integration boosted e-commerce revenue 36% and search 6.3%, with higher user engagement and ad revenue offsetting 17% cost rise.

Naver’s AI Deals and Nvidia Partnership

CEO Choi Soo-yeon noted expanding AI opportunities via cloud contracts, custom LLMs, Saudi smart city JV, and Thai LLM projects. Naver launched HyperCLOVA X THINK in June and plans 1 trillion won in AI investments. Key: deal for 60,000 Nvidia GPUs, part of national 260,000-chip deployment in data centers, factories, vehicles, and robotics. Stock up 35% YTD.

Agent N Launch

At DAN 25, Naver unveiled Agent N: unified AI that understands intent, connects to content/services, and executes actions via conversation. Rollout: Q1 2026 shopping agent on Naver Plus Store; Q2 AI Tab in search. Business version: Agent N for Business with ADVoost ads expanding to SNS, YouTube, Google, Criteo.

Physical AI Push

Naver deploys MIT humanoids in headquarters this month; opens Rookie2 robot OS/API; launches HyperCLOVA X Omni Q1 2026. GPU spend jumps 66% to 1 trillion won next year.

DS&G Liquid Cooling for AI

DS&G advances liquid cooling (3,000x better heat transfer than air) for dense AI servers in finance, retail, healthcare. Market grows from $177M (2025) to $454M (2031) at 17% CAGR. Supports government Green Data Center initiative; enables Naver’s GPU expansions.

Project Concord: $35B AI Data Center

Stock Farm Road (LG heir Brian Koo, BADR) partners with Stanford-backed Voltai for 3GW facility in South Jeolla, completion 2028. AI designs, builds, operates; optimizes power/water, adapts workloads; humans supervise. Ties to government tripling AI spend; uses Nvidia chips.

Conclusion

Naver’s profits, Agent N, physical AI; DS&G cooling; Concord’s autonomy—South Korea builds full AI ecosystem from services to infrastructure, powered by Nvidia.

https://www.wsj.com/business/earnings/navers-third-quarter-earnings-rose-on-ai-push-dfdd1cb3?mod=business_feat3_earnings_pos1

https://www.wsj.com/tech/a-big-data-center-planned-in-south-korea-could-be-built-and-run-by-ai-2bdf26e5

https://www.etnews.com/20251106000348