(LEAD) Jensen Huang visits Naver, eyes building AI cloud in S. Korea

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SEOUL, June 8 (Yonhap) -- Jensen Huang, the chief of Nvidia Corp., said he wants to build a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) cloud in South Korea and across the world during his visit to Naver Corp. on Monday, raising hopes for expanded partnerships between the two companies.

Huang made the remarks during a visit to Naver's 1784 building in Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul, which serves as the test bed for the information technology (IT) company's latest technologies spanning from AI to 5G networks to robots.

At a welcoming event prepared by Naver Webtoon, Huang said, "the more GPUs (graphics processing units) you have, the more you can work and the more happy you are," as he stood on stage next to Lee Hae-jin, the founder and board chair of Naver. "GPU equals happy," he added.

Earlier in the day, Naver said it will work with Nvidia to build large-scale, global AI infrastructure, starting with an expansion of its data center in the central city of Sejong.

The portal giant will use Nvidia's DSX platform to expand its Gak Sejong data center in Sejong, in central Korea, starting with 55 megawatts by the early half of 2027 and gradually expand its capacity overseas with plans to move to a gigawatt scale, the IT company said in a release.

One gigawatt is nearly fourfold the maximum data capacity of Naver's Gak Sejong center and is capable of accommodating hundreds of thousands of Nvidia's latest GPU, according to the company.

Naver also plans to take part in Nvidia's Nemotron Coalition, a global collaboration between open model builders and AI developers, to advance its proprietary large language model, HyperCLOVA X.

The two companies will partner in the area of physical AI too, with Naver set to develop a "Seoul World Model," combining its proprietary urban street-view data and spatial modeling technology, with Nvidia's Cosmos world foundation models.

"Naver's partnership with Nvidia goes beyond a technical one, into a partnership that spans every stage of the value chain, from identifying global demand to capital collaboration," the South Korean company said, adding the two firms will share both the risks and profits from the collaboration.

Huang's visit to Naver's second office space comes during his high-profile visit to South Korea, where he has been meeting with leaders of major conglomerates and researchers to explore broader cooperation opportunities in AI and robotics.

Jensen Huang (L), the head of Nvidia Corp., poses for a photo with Lee Hae-ji