Naver said it will invest more than 1 trillion won in graphics processing units (GPU) as it unveiled a plan to push into physical AI.
Kim Hee-cheul, Naver chief financial officer (CFO), said on the 5th during the third-quarter earnings conference call, "This year, total infrastructure investment including GPUs is expected to be around 1 trillion won, and considering the expansion of new businesses such as a push into physical AI after 2026, investment of more than 1 trillion won is expected for GPUs alone." He added, "In addition to forward-looking investment for the future, we also expect revenue-linked investment such as GPU as a Service (GPUaaS) supplied to public institutions and the private sector, so we will maintain an aggressive investment stance within what is financially permissible, taking that into account."
Earlier, Nvidia said on Oct. 31 that it would supply more than 260,000 Blackwell GPUs to domestic corporations and institutions, including Naver subsidiary Naver Cloud. Of these, Naver decided to secure 60,000 of Nvidia's GPU infrastructure.
On the day, CEO Choi Soo-yeon said AI-based services are showing tangible results, and that a shopping AI agent is planned for release in the spring next year. Choi said, "After releasing the shopping agent in the spring next year, we plan to sequentially launch an AI tab that provides a full generative search experience and an integrated agent," adding, "We are currently at the stage of finding that it plays an active role in boosting sales, and although sales are in the early stage, we expect it to play a positive role in monetization."
Choi said the company saw potential in the performance of AI Briefing. AI Briefing is a system Naver launched in March to strengthen competitiveness in informational search; it is an AI service that uses Generative AI to not only summarize search results but also recommend and consolidation content. Naver initially applied AI Briefing at the 10% level, has now expanded it to 15%, and, after confirming effects in expanding loyal users and strengthening search revenue, plans to expand coverage to 20%.
Choi said, "After introducing AI Briefing, satisfaction with informational and knowledge queries increased significantly," adding, "Since we unveiled the AI Briefing service, sources with high credibility have been reflected and satisfaction with answers has risen, and more than 30 million people have used it." The explanation is that AI Briefing has a differentiator in that, along with presenting summarized information, it enables additional in-depth exploration and the spread of content consumption through re-searching related questions presented at the bottom of the text.
Choi said, "The number of clicks on related questions has expanded more than fivefold compared with April, the early stage of AI Briefing's launch, enabling users to explore more deeply without the hassle of entering new and complex questions into the search bar, while at the same time creating a virtuous cycle that supports exposure to Naver's various user-generated content (UGC)," adding, "Starting in November, we plan to gradually test personalization of the question area in relation to the body of the answer."
The share of AI personalization applied to Naver Plus Store, the shopping platform, will also be expanded. Choi said, "We plan to drastically expand the share of AI personalization applied to the Naver Plus Store home surface from the current 31% to 80%," adding, "By linking popular products and user-generated content (UGC), we will strengthen discovery and exploration, maximize the user lock-in effect, and aim to improve dwell time and purchase conversion rates."
Choi also laid out ambitions for the Robotics operating system (OS) and control platform. Choi said, "In the global Robotics market, the Robotics operating system (OS) and control platform industry that Naver is developing accounts for 39%," adding, "We are confident that the technology Naver has is at the world's highest level and are currently at the stage of securing global references."
Naver said that on the day, boosted by the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the third quarter this year, it posted the highest-ever quarterly operating profit and revenue. Quarterly revenue surpassed 3 trillion won for the first time. It disclosed on the 5th that third-quarter revenue was 3.1381 trillion won and operating profit was 570.6 billion won, up 15.6% and 8.6%, respectively, from the same period a year earlier. Net profit for the same period was 734.7 billion won, up 38.6% from a year earlier.