Foreign Investors Snap Up Naver on Hopes It Can Become Asia’s CoreWeave
Summary
- Foreign investors were the biggest net buyers of Naver over the past six trading sessions, purchasing a net 176.9 billion won of shares, the largest such buying in the market.
- Nvidia secured a 4.13% stake in Naver through a 1.3412 trillion won equity investment and plans to work with the company to expand its AI data center business.
- Analysts said expanding AI data center demand outside the US could benefit Naver, while also arguing that investment in its C2C business is eroding company-wide ROIC and should be halted.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
176.919 billion won net bought over six trading days, the most in the market
Expansion of AI data-center services seen as a tailwind
Foreign investors were the biggest net buyers of Naver over the past week, purchasing more of the stock than any other company. Nvidia’s large equity investment has fueled expectations that artificial intelligence data centers will emerge as a new growth driver for Naver. There is also a view that tighter US regulations on data-center construction could open up a new opportunity for the company.
On Nov. 11, Naver rose 0.67% to close at 194,300 won. According to the Korea Exchange, foreign investors were the biggest net buyers of Naver in the domestic stock market from Nov. 4 through Nov. 11. Net purchases during the period totaled 176.919 billion won.
A key driver of the foreign buying was Nvidia’s large equity investment. Naver said on Nov. 6 that it completed a 1.3412 trillion won third-party share allotment to Nvidia. Nvidia will hold a 4.13% stake, making it Naver’s third-largest shareholder after the National Pension Service and BlackRock. The newly issued shares are scheduled to list on Nov. 27.
Naver plans to expand its AI data-center business in partnership with Nvidia. It aims to launch services with 55 megawatts of capacity in the first half of 2027 and expand that to 200 megawatts by the end of 2028. It then plans to secure an additional 200 to 300 megawatts in 2029 and 2030 by expanding GAK Sejong, its own data center. Over the longer term, the company plans to build infrastructure with 1 gigawatt of capacity and grow into an Asian version of CoreWeave.
There is also a view that demand for AI data centers could shift to overseas markets such as Asia and Europe as the burden of investing in US data centers rises after the US midterm elections. Lee Jun-ho, an analyst at Hana Securities, wrote that Naver would be the biggest beneficiary in South Korea as demand grows for AI data-center construction outside the US.
Still, the company faces the task of proving the profitability of its new businesses. In a Nov. 4 report, Lee Hyo-jin of Meritz Securities said foreign ownership fell sharply when Naver acquired Poshmark in October 2022 and Wallapop in August 2025. Lee added that over the past five years, investment in the consumer-to-consumer, or C2C, business has been the most direct trigger for foreign selling of Naver shares. Supply and demand for the stock will improve only if the company halts C2C investment that is eroding company-wide return on invested capital, or ROIC, the analyst wrote.
Ko Song-hee, Korea Economic Daily reporter hgsong@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
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