Korea's $10B Gambit: A New Superpower Rises in the Global AI Arms Race

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 27, 2026 – In a move that sends shockwaves through the global technology landscape, a powerhouse trio—Korean internet giant NAVER, AI chip leader NVIDIA, and infrastructure titan Brookfield—today unveiled a plan to pour up to $10 billion into creating a national "AI factory" in South Korea. The announcement, made during a high-profile AI Summit in San Francisco, marks a monumental acceleration of Korea's ambition to achieve sovereign AI capabilities, fundamentally altering the calculus of global tech competition.

The deal's centerpiece is a massive expansion of NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center. The initial 55-megawatt buildout, announced just last month, will be more than tripled to a staggering 200 megawatts by 2028. This, however, is just the opening act. NAVER has its sights set on a gigawatt-scale future, creating a domestic AI powerhouse with the compute capacity to fuel the next generation of AI models, agents, and services for both Korean and U.S. innovators.

This colossal undertaking is underpinned by a complex financial arrangement. NVIDIA is making a strategic $1 billion investment directly into NAVER Corp, which will make it the third-largest shareholder. Brookfield, a global investment firm with over a trillion dollars in assets, plans to provide up to $9 billion in funding for the infrastructure buildout, with NAVER covering the remaining costs. It is a clear signal that the race for AI dominance is no longer just about software and algorithms; it's about the raw, capital-intensive power of physical infrastructure.

The Sovereign AI Gambit

At the heart of this multi-billion-dollar partnership lies the concept of 'sovereign AI'—a nation's ability to develop, control, and deploy its own AI infrastructure, data, and models, independent of foreign powers. For a technologically advanced nation like South Korea, which has long been a global leader in semiconductors and consumer electronics, securing a domestic foothold in the foundational layer of AI is now a paramount strategic priority. This move is less about just building data centers and more about forging a digital destiny.

"AI factories are the infrastructure nations need to compete and innovate in the intelligence era," stated Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Together, NAVER, NVIDIA and Brookfield are building sovereign AI infrastructure at the scale needed to fuel Korea’s startups and industries. This is how nations and companies are building their futures in the age of AI."

Huang's statement cuts to the core of the issue. In an era where access to large-scale compute is the primary bottleneck for AI advancement, nations that control their own "AI factories" can set their own research agendas, protect sensitive national data, and foster a domestic ecosystem of startups and enterprises that can compete on a global scale. This partnership, which provides a dedicated resource pool for both Korean and U.S. innovators, also strengthens the technology-centric alliance between the two countries, creating a powerful counterweight in the increasingly polarized world of high-tech geopolitics.

Inside the AI Factory

So, what exactly does a $10 billion AI factory look like? It's a vertically integrated ecosystem designed for the industrial-scale production of intelligence. The expanded GAK Sejong data center will be powered by NVIDIA’s DSX platform, an end-to-end stack purpose-built to minimize the cost per AI token and slash the time it takes to get models into production.

The facility will feature NVIDIA's most advanced technology, including the Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, which represent the bleeding edge of accelerated computing. This isn't just about throwing more GPUs at the problem. The DSX platform is a holistic solution. It includes NVIDIA DSX MaxLPS™ software to maximize token throughput per megawatt—a critical efficiency metric—and the NVIDIA DSX OS™ to manage the complex lifecycle, health, and multi-tenant operations of the entire factory.

For NAVER, this infrastructure will supercharge its existing AI initiatives. The company's HyperCLOVA X models will be advanced using NVIDIA's Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models, enhanced with NAVER's proprietary data. As the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, NAVER is positioning itself at the forefront of open model development. Furthermore, this raw power will fuel the launch of a new AI agent platform and the development of a "Seoul World Model," a digital twin of the city built on NVIDIA's Cosmos™ foundation models using NAVER's unique spatial data.

The New Kingmakers: Infrastructure Capital Fuels the AI Boom

While NVIDIA provides the technological heart of the AI factory, Brookfield provides the financial lifeblood. The firm's planned commitment of up to $9 billion is a testament to a profound shift in global investment strategy. The AI revolution, once a domain for venture capitalists and tech equity investors, now demands the kind of long-term, large-scale capital that only global infrastructure giants can provide.

Brookfield, which already manages an estimated $100 billion in assets across the AI infrastructure value chain—from data centers and compute to semiconductor manufacturing and power generation—is not merely a passive investor. The firm brings deep expertise in building and operating the physical foundations of the digital world.

"As AI adoption accelerates across the global economy, access to trusted, sovereign and scalable AI infrastructure is becoming an increasingly important strategic priority for companies and countries," said Sikander Rashid, Brookfield's global head of AI infrastructure. He highlighted that the partnership combines Brookfield's investment capabilities with NAVER's operational expertise and NVIDIA's platform to "advance Korea’s AI capabilities." This deal solidifies Brookfield's role as a key enabler of the AI era, demonstrating that the future of intelligence will be built not only on silicon and software but also on steel, concrete, and massive energy grids.

A Landmark Deal for NAVER

For NAVER, this partnership is nothing short of transformational. NVIDIA's $1 billion direct investment—the first time NAVER has taken a large-scale investment from an overseas tech giant since 2004—is a powerful vote of confidence in its full-stack AI capabilities and its central role in Korea's digital economy. The market's reaction was immediate and decisive, with NAVER's stock surging over 8% on the news.

This strategic alignment places NAVER at the center of the global AI factory network that NVIDIA is meticulously constructing. It validates the company's long-term investments in everything from its own large language models to the operational know-how of running hyperscale data centers tuned for AI workloads.

"NVIDIA’s planned strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, founder and chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.”

With this alliance, NAVER is not just building a data center; it is co-architecting a national asset. It's a bold play that elevates the company from a regional internet leader to a pivotal player in the global infrastructure of intelligence, securing its—and South Korea's—place at the forefront of the AI revolution.