National Growth Fund Provides 400 Billion Won Low-Interest Loan for Naver AI Infrastructure Project
by Kim Minyoung
Published 15 Apr.2026 17:38(KST)
Low-Interest Funding for Data Center Expansion and GPU Adoption
Reducing Dependence on Overseas AI Infrastructure, Strengthening Domestic AI Ecosystem
Supporting Advanced Proprietary AI Models... Securing Sovereign AI Capabilities
The National Growth Fund has agreed to lend 400 billion won to Naver at a low interest rate in the 3% range for the expansion and implementation of its artificial intelligence (AI) data center.
The Financial Services Commission, which oversees the National Growth Fund, announced on April 15 that it held a fund management committee meeting and approved a plan to provide a total of 400 billion won in low-interest loans for the expansion of Naver's AI data center, ‘Gak Sejong’.
This project involves Naver expanding its data center in Sejong City and introducing the latest graphics processing units (GPUs) to enhance its proprietary large language model (LLM) and implement AI in its search services.
Naver is investing a total of 922.1 billion won to expand the 'Gak Sejong' AI data center in Sejong City and introduce the latest GPU (graphics card) servers. Of the total cost, 522.1 billion won will be procured by Naver, while 400 billion won will be provided at a low interest rate in the 3% range by the National Growth Fund’s Advanced Strategic Industry Fund (340 billion won) and the Korea Development Bank (60 billion won).
Previously, the Financial Services Commission announced support measures for the ‘Sovereign AI’ project as part of the second mega project of the National Growth Fund.
With the newly secured AI infrastructure, Naver plans to establish a system that enables the stable operation and further performance enhancement of its self-developed AI model, HyperCLOVA X. HyperCLOVA X is an AI model created by training on a massive dataset of Korean-language content accumulated over many years by Naver, including news, maps, shopping, blogs, and caf?s.
The Financial Services Commission stated, "We decided to provide financial support for large-scale AI data center construction projects by domestic companies so that the Korean AI industry can reduce its dependence on global big tech and secure its own AI sovereignty."
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