Naver Cloud takes the lead in Korea’s public AI business

South Korean online giant Naver Corp.'s cloud subsidiary is expanding its presence in the country’s public artificial intelligence market by winning a series of project deals given intensifying competition in the sector amid a rise in government spending.

Naver Cloud said on Friday it was selected by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency for three projects that aim to accelerate the accomplishment of AI utilization in the public sector and the establishment of a digital platform government.

Naver Cloud is set to support the NIA in the development of hyperscale AI-based services and the use of super-giant AI platforms while assisting the NIPA with its hyperscale AI-based academic activities. The company is poised to establish the services for smart fire fighting safety and young farmers for the service development project.

It plans to provide in-depth consulting and optimization reflecting the characteristics of public institutions and private companies.

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“The technological competitiveness and excellent infrastructure of HyperCLOVA X, Naver’s hyperscale AI model, has been highly regarded in the public sector,” said a Naver Cloud official. “We aim further to escalate the presence of the hyperscale AI utilization business.”

South Korea seeks to generalize AI in the public sector.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has been working on the project to expand AI based on cooperation among ministries since 2022.

The government budget for the project tripled to 24 billion won ($17.7 million) this year from 8 billion won in 2023.

South Korean companies such as Naver, KT Corp. NHN Corp. and Samsung SDS Co. are aggressively competing in the sector to secure AI as a new growth driver.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.