[KH Explains] Why Naver, Nvidia are teaming up for 'sovereign AI'

Top executives of Naver and Nvidia met in the US last week and their key agenda was securing “sovereign AI.”

Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to autonomously develop and produce artificial intelligence models using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business network.

Tech firms have put greater value on the concept as it allows AI models to be more advanced by incorporating cultures, languages and values specific to each region.

“Naver and Nvidia will closely collaborate to develop various AI models that respect the cultural values of each regional society,” a Naver official said of the meeting.

The meeting was held at the US chip giant’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, with Naver founder Lee Hae-jin and CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Nvidia founder Jensen Huang in attendance.

Naver stands at the forefront of the sovereign AI initiative in Korea by debuting its own hyperscale AI model HyperClova X.

Based on its experiences building Korean-based language models, the company is seeking to develop similar language models for other countries such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“Sovereign AI requires significant investment and technical expertise,” the official said. “Naver is the only company globally that possesses the foundational technology for constructing massive AI models based on languages other than English and Chinese, and has experiences in building a cloud-based AI industry ecosystem by leveraging this technology.”

Naver has already teamed up with Aramco Digital, a technology subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, to develop large-scale language models focusing on Arabic. Discussions are also underway to provide AI solutions for the Philippines in partnership with a local internet service provider Converge ICT.

Considering Nvidia is the market leader in supplying high-capacity chips essential for AI services, Naver could use its potential Nvidia partnership to further expand its presence in the burgeoning markets in non-English-speaking countries in the future.

“Global data barriers become more pronounced and the demand for sovereign AI increases. Naver and Nvidia who share similar visions could target non-English-speaking markets such as Asia and South America,” said an industry source who wished not to be named.