Nvidia will invest $1 billion in South Korea’s Naver as part of a broader effort to expand AI infrastructure in the country, prompting Naver’s shares to rise sharply. Multiple outlets report that the deal involves Nvidia acquiring new shares from Naver. Naver announces it issues about 7.24 million new shares to Nvidia via a third-party allotment, which represents a 4.5% stake in the company. The shares are priced at 204,500 won (about $140) each, and the payment is scheduled for Oct. 30.
Naver also states it cancels about 4.9 million treasury shares in Aug. 3 to offset dilution from the new issuance. After the transaction, Nvidia is expected to become Naver’s third-largest shareholder, behind the National Pension Service and BlackRock.
Nvidia’s investment is linked to plans to build large-scale AI infrastructure, including an AI data center in South Korea. Bloomberg and The Next Web report that the funding helps finance a data center under construction, with the project aiming to expand capacity from roughly 55 megawatts to about 200 megawatts. The Wall Street Journal adds that the investment could support a wider multi-billion-dollar push into AI infrastructure in South Korea.
