By Yoon Sung-won
Naver and its CEO Han Seong-sook have made a series of bold moves announcing nearly 1 trillion won ($880 million) investments in future technologies and financial services partnership in a single day.
On Monday, the nation's top internet service provider said it will build its second cloud data center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, investing 480 billion won in it for the next three years. The company has established its first data center in Chuncheong, Gangwon Province, in 2013 the first Korean internet service business to do so.
Naver said the new cloud data center will enable it to provide new services based on artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and autonomous driving technologies, and handle explosive surge of data traffic that will follow the new services.
"Technologies that can quickly and accurately process, analyze and store massive amount of data are the most important in the industry's future," Naver Business Platform (NBP) CEO Park Won-ki said. NBP is a subsidiary of Naver in charge of establishment and operation of its data centers.
"By adding a new data center, we will be able to strengthen infrastructure competitiveness and solidify technological leadership in the era of AI."
Han took office as the new CEO of Naver in March. Since the inauguration, Han pledged to tap into her expertise in the service management to make the company a "technology platform operator based on innovative services and technologies."
Also on Monday, Naver announced to strengthen partnership with Mirae Asset Daewoo to jointly provide AI-based financial technology services.
To tighten the business tie, Naver will acquire a 7.1 percent stake worth 500 billion won in Mirae Asset Daewoo while the brokerage will purchase a 1.7 percent stake in Naver, also worth 500 billionwon. The two companies have agreed not to influence each other's managerial rights.
Earlier in December, Naver and Mirae Asset Daewoo each invested 50 billion won in raising a fund for new growth technologies such as AI, robot, internet of things and virtual reality.
The two companies said they will combine Naver's AI technologies to Mirae Asset Daewoo's financial services to provide intelligent robo-adviser. Naver will be able to release detailed financial information through its online and mobile portals.
"Mirae Asset Daewoo has massive data on both domestic and global financial markets, based on global networks in nine regions including Europe, China, Brazil, Hong Kong and the United States," Naver CFO Park Sang-jin said.
Mirae Asset Daewoo's business innovation division head Kim Dae-hwan said, "The soild partnership with Naver will help us boost growth in the global market for financial services and technologies."
R&D drive
On Tuesday, Naver said it will acquire Xerox Research Center Europe (XRCE) to expedite research and development of AI technologies. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by the third quarter this year.
Naver is accelerating researches on future technologies since its establishment of R&D subsidiary Naver Labs in 2013.
Established in 1993 in Grenoble, France, by U.S. firm Xerox, the XRCE is a laboratory dedicated to researches on machine learning, computer vision and natural language processing technologies. Besides the XRCE research infrastructure, Naver said it will have 80 researchers at the facility as its employee.
"The XRCE share Naver's perspective of future technology research and thus is highly expected of creating synergy effects in the upcoming R&D activities," Naver CTO Song Chang-hyun said.
"In particular, the XRCE's research achievements in computer vision, machine learning and natural language processing, combined to Naver Labs' deep learning, 3D mapping and robotics technologies, will make even greater results globally."
Naver said it will also plan to sign another deal with Xerox to tap into the XRCE's intellectual property rights and licenses.
Naver and its CEO Han Seong-sook have made a series of bold moves announcing nearly 1 trillion won ($880 million) investments in future technologies and financial services partnership in a single day.
On Monday, the nation's top internet service provider said it will build its second cloud data center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, investing 480 billion won in it for the next three years. The company has established its first data center in Chuncheong, Gangwon Province, in 2013 the first Korean internet service business to do so.
Naver said the new cloud data center will enable it to provide new services based on artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and autonomous driving technologies, and handle explosive surge of data traffic that will follow the new services.
"Technologies that can quickly and accurately process, analyze and store massive amount of data are the most important in the industry's future," Naver Business Platform (NBP) CEO Park Won-ki said. NBP is a subsidiary of Naver in charge of establishment and operation of its data centers.
"By adding a new data center, we will be able to strengthen infrastructure competitiveness and solidify technological leadership in the era of AI."
Han took office as the new CEO of Naver in March. Since the inauguration, Han pledged to tap into her expertise in the service management to make the company a "technology platform operator based on innovative services and technologies."
Also on Monday, Naver announced to strengthen partnership with Mirae Asset Daewoo to jointly provide AI-based financial technology services.
To tighten the business tie, Naver will acquire a 7.1 percent stake worth 500 billion won in Mirae Asset Daewoo while the brokerage will purchase a 1.7 percent stake in Naver, also worth 500 billionwon. The two companies have agreed not to influence each other's managerial rights.
Earlier in December, Naver and Mirae Asset Daewoo each invested 50 billion won in raising a fund for new growth technologies such as AI, robot, internet of things and virtual reality.
The two companies said they will combine Naver's AI technologies to Mirae Asset Daewoo's financial services to provide intelligent robo-adviser. Naver will be able to release detailed financial information through its online and mobile portals.
"Mirae Asset Daewoo has massive data on both domestic and global financial markets, based on global networks in nine regions including Europe, China, Brazil, Hong Kong and the United States," Naver CFO Park Sang-jin said.
Mirae Asset Daewoo's business innovation division head Kim Dae-hwan said, "The soild partnership with Naver will help us boost growth in the global market for financial services and technologies."
R&D drive
On Tuesday, Naver said it will acquire Xerox Research Center Europe (XRCE) to expedite research and development of AI technologies. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by the third quarter this year.
Naver is accelerating researches on future technologies since its establishment of R&D subsidiary Naver Labs in 2013.
Established in 1993 in Grenoble, France, by U.S. firm Xerox, the XRCE is a laboratory dedicated to researches on machine learning, computer vision and natural language processing technologies. Besides the XRCE research infrastructure, Naver said it will have 80 researchers at the facility as its employee.
"The XRCE share Naver's perspective of future technology research and thus is highly expected of creating synergy effects in the upcoming R&D activities," Naver CTO Song Chang-hyun said.
"In particular, the XRCE's research achievements in computer vision, machine learning and natural language processing, combined to Naver Labs' deep learning, 3D mapping and robotics technologies, will make even greater results globally."
Naver said it will also plan to sign another deal with Xerox to tap into the XRCE's intellectual property rights and licenses.
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