Naver chair expected to meet Nvidia CEO to discuss sovereign AI collaboration

Lee Hae-jin, founder and board chairman of Naver, is expected to meet Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Taiwan this week to discuss collaboration on AI initiatives in Southeast Asia, according to people familiar with the matter.

From left: Naver founder Lee Hae-jin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon meet at Nvidia's headquarters in the United States in June 2024 to discuss the concept of “sovereign AI,” or country-specific artificial intelligence, in this photo uploaded to Naver's Instagram. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Lee Hae-jin, founder and board chairman of Naver, is expected to meet Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in Taiwan this week to discuss collaboration on AI initiatives in Southeast Asia, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lee traveled to Taipei with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won to attend Computex 2025, one of Asia’s largest technology trade shows, according to industry insiders on Thursday.

Huang is also in Taiwan for the event, which started on Tuesday and runs for three days through Friday. The two executives are expected to hold a separate one-on-one meeting.

The discussion will likely focus on a potential partnership in Southeast Asia, where Naver has been pushing to co-develop AI models with local tech firms. Nvidia could support those efforts by supplying GPUs, according to industry watchers.

“Unlike Big Tech firms like OpenAI, Naver is taking a sovereign AI approach,” said an IT industry source, referring to countries building AI capabilities using their own infrastructure and data.

"Naver is actively working with IT companies in Southeast Asian countries on a range of collaborations. That aligns with Nvidia’s interest in increasing GPU demand, so the two companies have mutual incentives.”

The meeting marks Lee’s first overseas trip since returning to Naver’s board in February.

He previously met with Huang last June during a visit to Nvidia’s U.S. headquarters in his capacity as global investment officer.

Naver at the time described both companies as "early advocates of sovereign AI" and said the meeting was aimed at exploring synergies between Nvidia’s hardware and Naver’s ability to build large-scale AI models from scratch.

Next month, Lee plans to travel to Silicon Valley to attend an investment networking event and discuss the launch of a U.S.-based investment unit, tentatively named Naver Ventures.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff. KANG KWANG-WOO [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]