Naver to establish subsidiary in Saudi Arabia to expand regional reach

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Naver to establish subsidiary in Saudi Arabia to expand regional reach

Published: 23 Sep. 2024, 15:14 Updated: 23 Sep. 2024, 19:01

LEE JAE-LIM
lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr

Naver's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi [NEWS1]

Naver, Korea’s popular portal giant, will establish a Middle Eastern subsidiary in Saudi Arabia within the year to expand its global operations.

Tentatively named Naver Arabia, the Korean internet company said on Monday that it plans to participate in Saudi Arabia’s regional headquarters program, a governmental initiative that provides certain incentives to foreign companies that operate an overseas branch within the region.

Naver aims to collaborate on state-led projects in advanced technologies and scout for various business opportunities through the program.

The company is also pushing ahead with plans to form multiple joint ventures for specific business units, which may include a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Municipalities and Housing and the National Housing Company using digital twin platform technology that the Korean company is already involved in.

Another sector in which Naver is pursuing partnerships with state-led and other business-to-business projects is sovereign AI, referring to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure and resources.

Naver recently produced a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Data & AI Authority (Sdaia), a governmental body in charge of big data, earlier in the month to collaborate on the burgeoning sectors of AI, cloud, data centers and robots.

The agreement was formed at the global AI summit known as GAIN 2024 led by Sdaia, where Naver’s C-suite executives including founder Lee Hae-jin and CEO Choi Soo-yeon met with Saudi government officials and business leaders, that ran from Sept. 10 to 12 in Riyadh.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]