Naver said on the 9th it will seek to expand a range of collaborations centered on artificial intelligence (AI) with France's key corporations and institutions. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won met with chief executive officers (CEOs) from France's media, IT, energy, mobility, and finance sectors during President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to France and explored opportunities to cooperate in AI infrastructure and content.
In opening remarks at a business roundtable, Choi emphasized collaboration in three areas: global AI infrastructure; industry-specific AI with Data Sovereignty and security; and cultural content. Recalling that Naver released a plan with Nvidia and Brookfield to build an AI factory, Choi said, "We want to create an AI factory that European corporations and startups can use by combining France's stable energy base with Naver's experience in the AI ecosystem."
Citing Naver's experience applying AI combined with data and expertise to real work—such as the Bank of Korea's finance-specialized AI BOKI and the nuclear power plant–specialized AI "Hy-Nuri," which is separated from external networks, developed with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP)—Choi proposed supporting French corporations in building trustworthy, industry-specific AI.
Choi noted the business performance of Naver Webtoon, which has showcased more than 70 original works in France and secured over 2 million readers, and said, "Based on our technological capabilities, including the webtoon global platform and the copyright protection AI 'Toon Radar,' we want to help works created jointly by creators from both countries meet readers around the world."
Choi also spoke at the Lumière Summit, an international film and video leaders' forum held on the 7th (local time) in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in southern France. There, Choi introduced the $100 million global content fund "IP Adaptation Fund," created jointly by Naver and Webtoon Entertainment to support creators' global growth. Choi said the company will make direct investments so creators' stories can grow into global franchises spanning film, animation, and games.
In addition, taking President Lee's visit to France as an opportunity, Naver signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) to combine AI technology with an audiovisual cultural heritage archive. The two sides plan to jointly explore ways to efficiently analyze content in INA's vast audiovisual archive by applying Naver's AI technology, and to enable users to easily search for and utilize the materials they need.