Announced 27 Oct 2026 · Sources checked
The deal
Edaily reported that Naver signed a $9 billion agreement with Brookfield on 27 October 2026 to secure AI computing infrastructure. The final agreement comes about three months after Naver selected Brookfield as its exclusive preferred negotiating partner in July.
The structure is a three-party consortium. Brookfield will raise the capital through a special purpose vehicle that owns an asset company, tentatively named Asset Co., and invest up to $9 billion to secure AI infrastructure including GPUs and data centers. Naver Cloud will receive GPU-based computing resources from Asset Co. as a service and operate AI data centers for external customers.
NVIDIA provides technical collaboration centered on its DSX next-generation high-performance computing platform, which extends the relationship the two companies already built around Naver's GPU clusters.
The NVIDIA investment
The finalization of the Brookfield agreement fulfills the precondition for NVIDIA's equity investment in Naver. NVIDIA plans to participate in a third-party private placement by Naver worth approximately $1 billion.
If the investment completes as scheduled, NVIDIA will become Naver's third-largest shareholder, behind the National Pension Service and BlackRock. Naver and NVIDIA signed the $1 billion strategic investment agreement on July 24, when Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met at NVIDIA's headquarters.
Naver said it plans to finalize the private placement procedures as soon as possible, with the original payment deadline on the 30th.
How the financing works
The deal is designed to limit Naver's direct capital burden. Naver Cloud will pay usage fees tied to business revenue rather than fronting the full cost of building data centers and buying GPUs, and GPU investments will be phased to match customer demand.
Naver also disclosed a debt guarantee of 18.74 trillion won for Naver Cloud's payment obligations related to the AI factory, which represents 64.73% of Naver's equity. That is the total nominal amount of GPU service payments expected by the end of 2034 if the full $9 billion investment limit is used, and Naver said there are currently no confirmed payment obligations.
The Brookfield-owned asset is expected to be consolidated as a subsidiary under Naver's control under accounting standards.
Why it matters
The deal is Naver's entry into the AI infrastructure business without taking the same balance-sheet risk as the neo-cloud companies. Edaily noted that financing risks in the industry came into focus recently when CoreWeave's corporate bond yield briefly surged to 15%.
Brookfield manages over $1 trillion in assets and has experience funding semiconductor joint ventures with Intel and energy development with Microsoft. Shinhan Investment Securities said in a report on the 19th that Naver's model leverages external capital to share capital expenditure burden while focusing on customers and monetization.
Naver's stable cash flow from search, advertising and commerce also differentiates it from the GPU-rental-dependent neo-cloud companies, according to Edaily.
There is a strategic parallel to the financing deals reshaping the sector this week. OpenAI's partners and SpaceX have both locked in large GPU financing arrangements, and NVIDIA itself is investing in Meta's equity offering as part of a wider pattern of chip suppliers funding their own customers. Naver's deal is the clearest example yet of that structure extending to a consumer technology company in Asia.
The build-out plan
Naver plans to build an AI factory with 55 megawatts of capacity in the first half of 2027, reaching a cumulative 100MW by the end of 2027 and 200MW by 2028. The hyperscale data center Gak Sejong will be the first hub.
The long-term goal is to expand to one gigawatt and take the business beyond the Asia-Pacific region to markets in Europe and the Middle East, according to Edaily.
What to watch
Watch whether NVIDIA's $1 billion placement closes before the end of the month and whether the shareholder register confirms NVIDIA as the third-largest holder.
Watch how quickly the first 55MW AI factory comes online and what utilization Naver Cloud actually achieves, since the revenue-linked payment structure only works if there are customers paying for GPU capacity.
Watch also whether other platform companies copy the asset-company structure. Naver's model — Brookfield owns the hardware, Naver operates it and NVIDIA supplies the compute platform — is a template for companies that want into the AI infrastructure business without carrying the massive capital expenditure and debt load that has strained CoreWeave and other GPU-focused cloud providers.
Common questions
What did Naver and Brookfield announce?
A $9 billion agreement to secure AI computing infrastructure including GPUs and data centers, with Brookfield funding through an asset company, Naver Cloud operating, and NVIDIA providing technology.
What changes for NVIDIA?
The deal satisfies the precondition for NVIDIA's $1 billion strategic equity investment in Naver, which would make NVIDIA the third-largest shareholder after the National Pension Service and BlackRock.
What is Naver building?
An AI factory with 55MW of capacity in the first half of 2027, a cumulative 100MW by the end of 2027 and 200MW by 2028, with a long-term one-gigawatt goal.
Sources & further reading
How this story was made
Written by Kristian Kostov with AI assistance and checked against the linked sources. Company performance claims are attributed to the company. Analysis reflects AiLookout’s interpretation; we have not independently tested the products discussed. Cover photography is illustrative and does not depict the specific announcement or product.
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