Bernstein said in a fresh report that Naver’s board has approved a private placement of 7.2 million common shares to NVIDIA at KRW 204,500 per share, raising about KRW 1.5 trillion, or roughly $1 billion. Once the transaction closes, NVIDIA is expected to own about 5% of Naver, becoming one of its key strategic shareholders. The brokerage said the investment should strengthen market confidence in Naver’s AI Factory strategy.
According to the report, Naver, NVIDIA and Brookfield had already planned to jointly invest in gigawatt-scale, multi-tenant AI cloud infrastructure aimed at supporting next-generation AI companies in South Korea and the United States. Bernstein described Naver’s AI Factory as closer to a “neocloud” model, in which infrastructure investors supply capital, chipmakers support compute deployment, ecosystem partners bring demand and model capabilities, and Naver coordinates and operates the full technology stack. Bernstein added that NVIDIA’s equity stake could ease concerns over hardware procurement, demand visibility and long-term ecosystem support, while improving the feasibility of future SPV financing and outside capital raising. The firm maintained an Outperform rating and a KRW 330,000 price target, versus Naver’s July 24 close of KRW 209,500.
BlockBeats reported on July 27 that Bernstein said in its latest report that Naver’s board has approved a private placement of 7.2 million common shares to NVIDIA at KRW 204,500 per share, for total proceeds of about KRW 1.5 trillion, or roughly $1 billion.
After the deal closes, NVIDIA is expected to hold about 5% of Naver, making it one of the company’s key strategic shareholders. Bernstein said the investment should bolster market confidence in Naver’s AI Factory.
Bernstein says Naver’s AI Factory resembles a “neocloud” model
The report said that as global spending on AI infrastructure continues to expand, chip supply, capital support, cloud infrastructure and downstream demand are becoming more tightly linked. Naver, NVIDIA and Brookfield had previously planned to jointly invest in gigawatt-scale, multi-tenant AI cloud infrastructure to provide computing capacity for next-generation AI companies in South Korea and the United States.
Bernstein said Naver’s AI Factory is closer to a “neocloud” cooperation model: infrastructure investors provide capital, chipmakers support compute deployment, AI ecosystem partners contribute demand and model capabilities, and Naver sits in the middle to organize and operate the entire technology stack.
NVIDIA stake seen easing concerns around procurement and funding
Bernstein said NVIDIA becoming a shareholder could reduce market concerns about hardware procurement, demand visibility and long-term ecosystem support. It also said the move could improve the feasibility of follow-on SPV financing and external capital raising.
Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating on Naver with a KRW 330,000 price target. Based on the July 24 closing price of KRW 209,500, that implies potential upside of about 58%.
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