Naver (NAVER) has begun discussions with the Brazilian government on "sovereign AI." This is a result of accompanying President Lee Jae-myung on his state visit to Latin America. Negotiations have also opened up with other Latin American countries such as Chile and Mexico. With Brazil, which is pushing forward a national AI project worth 6 trillion won, Naver's expansion into the Latin American AX (AI transformation) territory is expected to accelerate.
According to industry sources on the 4th, Naver conducted a video meeting with Brazil's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in mid-last month with support from KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency). This follows up on meetings held by Choi Su-yeon, CEO of Naver, and Kim Yu-won, CEO of Naver Cloud, who accompanied President Lee as part of the economic delegation during his state visit to Latin America at the end of July last month, with Brazilian Hyeon Ji (CEO) data center companies SDC (Scala Data Centers) and TDC (Tecto Data Centers).
Naver discussed a joint business model with the two companies to equip local AI data centers with Naver's GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) and AI cloud services, and to supply computing resources to companies in Brazil and neighboring countries. SDC and TDC are currently carrying out the "Scala AI City" project to build an AIDC campus of 4.75GW (gigawatts) scale, and the "TGRU1" project to establish an AIDC of up to 200MW (megawatts) scale, respectively.
At the time, Naver also discussed technology exchange and operational partnerships based on its experience in operating Chuncheon and Sejong data centers without interruption, high-efficiency liquid cooling technology, and experience in pushing forward GW-scale AIDC projects. This meeting with Brazil's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation signifies that Naver has expanded its negotiation channels from local companies to the government.
Brazil is currently advancing a national AI plan (PBIA) worth 23 billion reais (approximately 6 trillion won). The goal is not to remain merely a consumer country importing AI services from big tech, but to secure its own AI capabilities based on its native language, culture, and data.
The PBIA aligns with Naver's "sovereign AI." It is a business that builds an AI ecosystem reflecting the local country's language, culture, values, legal system, and data. Unlike big tech companies that unilaterally supply AI services, its differentiator is providing a "full stack" from AI infrastructure to cloud, AI models, and commercial services.
Naver's expansion into Latin America does not stop at Brazil. On the 24th of last month, Naver also visited Mexico for two days as part of the economic delegation accompanying President Lee on his Latin American tour, meeting with Gyeong Je-bu (Minister), the Minister of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation, and the CEO of Softtek, among others. Naver discussed cooperation plans regarding Mexico's efforts to build national-level high-performance computing and AI clusters.
Latin America is an "AX blue ocean" with a population of 670 million. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), while about 80% of companies in the region have adopted AI tools, only 23% answered that they had seen actual economic effects, and just 6% reported significant results. The IDB emphasized the need for increased investment, talent development, infrastructure expansion, and institutional improvements.
An industry official stated, "There is a growing trend of companies seeking AI from countries other than the United States or China due to geopolitical reasons and the cost burden of big tech AI," adding, "The atmosphere is one where national-level support for AI exports is becoming active, with French President Macron also bringing Mistral along on his overseas visits."
in TECH
