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First major customer for Naver’s AI factory venture
South Korean technology giant Naver has secured its first major customer for an AI computing infrastructure project developed alongside Nvidia and Brookfield, signing a contract worth approximately 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) with an unnamed U.S.-based artificial intelligence inference company.
Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon announced the agreement during the company's third-quarter 2026 earnings call on Nov. 12. The deal covers approximately 20 megawatts of computing capacity, powered by a combination of Nvidia B300 processors and its next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs.
The contract's 2 trillion won value represents cumulative revenue over approximately five years, not annual sales. Depending on the chip configuration, individual supply agreements will run for four to five years, Chief Financial Officer Kim Hee-cheol said.
GPU deliveries and profitability outlook
Initial deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2027, with commercial services expected to launch in the first half of that year. Naver plans to expand capacity from 55 megawatts in the first half of 2027 to 100 megawatts by year-end and 200 megawatts in 2028. Its longer-term ambition is to build 1 gigawatt of AI computing infrastructure.
Naver expects the AI factory business to generate operating profit beginning in 2027, even after accounting for infrastructure and operating costs. Initial margins are likely to be relatively low because of a two- to three-month gap between equipment delivery and the start of commercial services. Once operations reach full scale in 2028, the company expects margins to exceed 10% by a substantial amount, Kim said.
However, the company cautioned that the current agreement is its only finalized customer contract so far. Naver said it is negotiating with more than 10 additional companies for the remaining 180 megawatts of its initial 200-megawatt supply plan. Potential customers include companies outside North America and Asia.
Liquid-cooled data centers offer a competitive advantage
The availability of Nvidia's latest processors is central to Naver's expansion strategy. The Vera Rubin platform is designed for liquid cooling, limiting its suitability for conventional air-cooled data centers.
Naver CEO Choi said the company has proactively secured most of the liquid-cooled data center capacity available for use in South Korea. That infrastructure, she argued, gives Naver an advantage in supplying advanced GPUs to international customers on schedule.
The company is also negotiating what it described as Asia's largest server procurement agreement with Nvidia to secure Vera Rubin systems ahead of anticipated demand. CFO Kim said customers are increasingly interested in the next-generation chips and that the transition from B300 to Vera Rubin could improve pricing competitiveness and expected revenue.
Questions have also emerged about the regulatory outlook for AI data centers in the United States following Democratic gains in the U.S. midterm elections. Kim said several prospective customers were monitoring the regulatory environment but described the political developments as not necessarily unfavorable to Naver. He added that the company would need more time to assess the situation.
Revenue grows as infrastructure spending pressures profits
Naver reported third-quarter consolidated revenue of 3.4724 trillion won, up 10.7% from a year earlier. Operating profit fell 20.9% to 451.3 billion won, while net income declined 45.2% to 402.5 billion won. Its operating margin dropped to 13%, from 18.2% a year earlier.
Infrastructure expenses increased 29.1%, marketing costs rose 32.3% and partner-related expenses climbed 18.8%. The increases reflected investment in computing assets and data center capacity, shopping promotions, Npay Connect payment terminals and sports broadcasting rights.
Enterprise revenue, which includes the AI factory business, rose 33% to 193.3 billion won. Naver's platform business generated 1.9484 trillion won in revenue, up 7.3%, while its financial platform revenue increased 14.1% to 487.7 billion won. Revenue from its global expansion business climbed 15.9% to 1.0364 trillion won.
Kim said infrastructure investment outside the AI data center business had likely peaked this year and could ease in 2027. Naver does not expect a quick return to its previous 30% operating margin but aims to maintain a level of approximately 25% over time.
AI shopping assistant and logistics expansion
Naver also plans to launch a personalized AI agent application before the end of 2026. The service is designed to help users find products, make reservations and complete shopping transactions, while leaving final decisions such as payment to the user.
Usage of Naver's shopping AI agent in September was approximately five times its March level, while transaction value increased about fourfold. The company's AI-powered Powerlink search advertising system also improved click-through rates by 12% and conversions by 9%.
Separately, Naver is pursuing the establishment of a logistics-focused subsidiary to strengthen its e-commerce delivery infrastructure, initially relying on leased distribution centers.
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