South Korean internet giant Naver plans to invest 1 trillion won ($770 million) over six years to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities, as competition intensifies among Asian tech companies.
The investment comes as the company prepares to roll out AI Briefing, a new search technology featuring content summaries and multilingual support, in the first half of 2024. The technology will be integrated into Naver’s existing search platform, which has already seen an 11% increase in mobile engagement year-over-year.
CEO Choi Soo-yeon told attendees at the DAN 24 conference in Seoul that the company will allocate between 20% and 25% of its revenue to R&D. The spending boost aims to protect Naver’s position in the domestic AI market against growing regional competition.
The company is expanding beyond its core search business, partnering with Saudi Arabia on digital twin projects and Swiss robotics firm Swiss-Mile on construction applications. Its new advertising platform, ADVoost, has already shown promising results, with a 40% increase in click-through rates and 28% lower cost-per-click in initial trials.
Naver also plans to launch a dedicated shopping app in 2024, leveraging AI for personalized recommendations while expanding its membership program through logistics partnerships.
The investment follows a year of development on its HyperCLOVA X AI model, which the company has been testing across its service portfolio.
