Naver and Kakao, that are staking their survival on synthetic intelligence (AI) enterprise, have doubled their facility funding (CAPEX) scale, together with knowledge facilities, within the third quarter alone this yr. It is because knowledge facilities able to accommodating high-capacity energy are important parts for launching AI companies that may suppose and act like people.
The mixed facility funding scale of Naver and Kakao within the third quarter of this yr has quickly elevated by roughly two occasions over the previous yr. Within the case of Naver, facility funding quantities for knowledge facilities and securing workplace area elevated 2.3 occasions (roughly 221.7 billion gained) from 167.8 billion gained within the third quarter of final yr to 389.5 billion gained in the identical interval this yr. Specifically, funding scale for servers and gear considerably elevated from 146.5 billion gained final yr to 350 billion gained within the third quarter this yr.
Kakao additionally recorded 178.3 billion gained in facility funding for knowledge facilities within the third quarter of this yr. This determine doubled in comparison with the identical interval final yr (88.5 billion gained). Kakao additionally considerably elevated facility funding quantities for tangible property akin to graphics processing models (GPUs) within the third quarter of this yr. The quantity Kakao invested in tangible property was 144.1 billion gained, greater than doubling in comparison with final yr (63.6 billion gained).
Whereas Naver and Kakao have been presenting full-scale AI companies from this yr, they’re analyzed to be specializing in knowledge middle growth to grab management in associated companies. Implementing refined AI companies requires extra energy and knowledge. For that reason, knowledge facilities are thought-about core competitiveness within the AI period. Specifically, each Naver and Kakao are displaying curiosity in AI brokers that mechanically hook up with precise actions akin to product purchases and venue reservations, in addition to bodily AI akin to humanoids, making the position of information facilities more and more essential.
For that reason, Naver and Kakao plan to additional develop facility funding in knowledge facilities sooner or later. Naver, which has established a detailed cooperative construction with Nvidia, will execute investments of greater than 1 trillion gained in GPUs alone subsequent yr. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon introduced on the Staff Naver expertise convention DAN25 that the corporate would current Agent N, an built-in AI agent service, subsequent yr, emphasizing “We are going to contribute to the Republic of Korea’s leap to grow to be one of many three AI powerhouses based mostly on full-stack AI expertise capabilities.”
Kakao, which has joined arms with OpenAI, may even make investments 600 billion gained in Namyangju by 2029 to construct its second proprietary knowledge middle. The info middle might be accomplished as an AI knowledge middle (AIDC) specialised for AI. Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a said within the third quarter earnings convention name, “We are going to lead the agent AI period the place AI thinks and acts by itself.”
