Naver Cloud's First Step with 'Sovereign AI' in Saudi Arabia... "Opening the Second Middle East Boom"

Team Naver has won the contract to build a digital twin platform in Saudi Arabia. As Middle Eastern countries focus on securing digital competitiveness beyond the US-China 'bipolar system,' expectations are growing that a 'second Middle East boom' will extend to the IT industry.

Naver has secured a national-level digital twin platform construction project from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing (MOMRAH). Over the next five years, it will build and operate a cloud-based 3D digital twin platform targeting five cities including Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as well as Medina, Jeddah, Dammam, and Mecca. Saudi Arabia plans to utilize the digital twin platform for ▲urban planning ▲monitoring ▲flood prediction, among other purposes.

Digital twin refers to technology that creates a virtual space identical to the real world in the digital realm. It accurately replicates the physical real-world space as a digital twin and can improve potential problems in the real world through simulations of complex situations such as natural disaster predictions. To implement a digital twin, artificial intelligence (AI) technology that analyzes complex real-world data and cloud infrastructure with stable data processing and scalability are essential.

Naver Cloud plans to concentrate all its capabilities on this project. Based on 'Sovereign AI' and 'Sovereign Cloud,' it will discuss policy issues in Saudi Arabia. Naver Cloud is targeting the global market with its 'Sovereign' strategy. Amid the AI offensives centered on the US and China, this concept provides AI systems and cloud services that consider political and cultural contexts to countries concerned about data sovereignty and non-English-speaking countries. The strategy is to expand its presence in Middle Eastern countries by offering the hyper-large AI 'HyperCLOVA X,' which emphasizes data sovereignty and security.

Saudi Arabia is expected to be the first step in realizing Naver Cloud's Sovereign Cloud. Until now, Naver Cloud has built and operated public clouds in compliance with domestic 'Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP).' Based on this experience, it is explained that it can provide customized cloud services that comply with local regulations and public standards in Saudi Arabia.

Naver Cloud can also provide strong security to countries using generative AI services through 'Neurocloud for HyperCLOVA X.' Neurocloud for HyperCLOVA X is a service that can configure a network environment as a closed intranet within each data center. Companies can safely train data and create large language models (LLMs) specialized for their businesses without concerns about security breaches or leaks.

Interest in the Sovereign strategy is emerging not only in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East but also in Europe and Latin America. Following the delegation led by Ilang Goudfain, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), key figures from various countries, including Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecommunications company in Europe, visited Naver 1784 and reached a consensus on Sovereign AI and Cloud based on HyperCLOVA X. The Alan Turing Institute, a UK national institution researching data science and AI, and Naver Cloud also recognized the risks of dependency on global big tech and agreed to cooperate on AI technology to address issues such as securing technological sovereignty.

A Naver Cloud official said, "To ensure the successful progress of the project, Naver Cloud will do its best to apply stable cloud technology and support business. Going forward, we will expand our technological competitiveness in the Middle Eastern market and strengthen our entry strategy for Sovereign AI and Sovereign Cloud so that Naver Cloud can establish itself as a 'third option' surpassing the US and China."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.