South Korea-based Naver Corp, the operator of the country’s leading internet portal, has announced on Monday plans to set up a Middle Eastern unit in Saudi Arabia.
According to Yonhab News Agency, Naver plans to establish the new unit within this year, as part of the company’s efforts to expand its global operations.
The new unit, dubbed Naver Arabia, will be responsible for Naver’s business in Saudi Arabia, including setting up a digital twin platform for five Saudi cities and developing an Arabic-based large language model (LLM).
Furthermore, Naver Arabia aims to establish joint ventures with local entities to implement various projects.
Earlier this month, Naver announced the start of its collaboration with Saudi Arabia in the artificial intelligence (AI) field after attending the “Global AI Summit” (GAIN) in Riyadh.
On the sidelines of the GAIN Summit, the South Korean company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) to cooperate in the fields of AI, cloud, data center, and robotics.
Under the MoU, Naver Corp will develop data center-related solutions and services, cloud solutions based on them, Arabic-based large language model (LLM) and related services, in addition to research and development of intelligent robots and related applications.
After its establishment in 1999 as a search platform, Naver has expanded into a global technology company, boasting cutting-edge technologies and an ample business portfolio in diverse fields, including search, commerce, fintech, content, cloud, and AI.
