South Korean internet giant Naver has formally proposed building joint AI data centers in France, pitching the country’s abundant low-carbon electricity — mostly nuclear — as the power base for facilities that European businesses and startups could use.
What happened
On September 8, 2026, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon addressed a South Korea-France business roundtable held alongside South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s state visit to France. Choi outlined three cooperation tracks: shared AI infrastructure, industry-specific AI systems built with data sovereignty in mind, and cultural content. The clearest headline was on infrastructure: Naver, which has already announced a partnership with Nvidia and Brookfield Asset Management to build more than 1 gigawatt of AI data center capacity globally, told French counterparts it wants France to be part of that build-out. On the same day, Naver signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU — a non-binding letter of intent to work together) with France’s National Audiovisual Institute (INA) to apply Naver’s AI tools to INA’s audiovisual archives, making decades of broadcast material easier to search and use. Naver Webtoon, the company’s digital comics platform, cited 2 million readers in France and proposed joint content creation with French creators.
Why Korea does it this way
Korean tech companies have long looked abroad for data center capacity because South Korea’s own electricity grid — dense, expensive, and heavily fossil-fuel dependent until recently — makes running power-hungry AI clusters domestically difficult and costly. France’s grid, roughly 70% nuclear, offers both reliability and relatively low carbon intensity, which increasingly matters for corporate sustainability commitments. State visits routinely serve as staging grounds for commercial deals in Korea’s business culture; the government actively brokers introductions between Korean conglomerates and foreign partners, and signing an MOU during a presidential trip signals political backing on both sides.
What it means for you
Investors in Korean tech: Naver (KOSPI: 035420) is Korea’s largest internet company by market cap. The 1 GW AI factory pipeline with Nvidia and Brookfield — if it advances — would be a material capex commitment; watch for any binding contracts or land announcements that move beyond MOU stage. No investment advice is implied.
Supply chain — power and construction: A gigawatt of AI data center load is roughly equivalent to the baseload demand of a mid-sized city. If sites in France are confirmed, French energy utility EDF and local grid operators become key enablers; nothing is contracted yet.
Residents and workers: For Koreans living in France, Naver Webtoon’s deepening French presence (2 million readers, INA partnership) could mean more Korean-adjacent content jobs and co-production opportunities over the next one to two years, though no hiring figures or timelines were announced.
Foreign residents in Korea watching AI buildout: This deal, if it closes, moves Naver’s heavy AI infrastructure offshore rather than adding to Korea’s domestic power demand — relevant context for anyone tracking Korea’s data-center electricity crunch.
Watch next
- Whether Naver announces a binding site agreement or land purchase in France — no date set; watch Naver’s quarterly earnings disclosures (next due approximately November 2026) for capex guidance updates.
- The Nvidia-Brookfield-Naver 1 GW partnership: Brookfield is a publicly listed infrastructure investor; any regulatory filings or press releases naming a French site would confirm the deal has moved past MOU stage.
- INA MOU follow-through: the two sides said they would “explore” AI applications for the archive — watch for a product launch or pilot announcement; no deadline was stated, so the trigger is a named deliverable from either INA or Naver.
Source: The Elec
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