Nvidia to buy $1 billion in new Naver shares as AI data center plan advances

Reuters reported that shares of South Korean internet and cloud company Naver jumped more than 10% after Naver said Nvidia would acquire $1 billion of its new shares to help finance an AI data centre expansion. Naver said it will place 7.2 million new shares with Nvidia at 204,500 won each, a 1% discount to Friday's close. With the stake, Nvidia would own about 4.5% of Naver, placing it among the largest shareholders behind the National Pension Service at 9.25% and BlackRock Fund Advisors at 6.12% as of end-2025, according to the Reuters report. The move deepens a partnership that in June aimed at gigawatt-scale global AI infrastructure for sovereign AI demand in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. As a first step, Naver, Nvidia, and Brookfield said on Friday they plan to expand Naver's AI data centre in South Korea with up to $10 billion in funding, with Brookfield providing up to $9 billion as capital partner. The expansion is planned at Naver's GAK facility in Sejong using Nvidia's Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, targeting 200 megawatts of capacity by 2028. Reuters noted Nvidia's other large AI investments include $30 billion in OpenAI and $10 billion in Anthropic.