Naver announced on September 23rd that it plans to establish a Middle East headquarters, tentatively named NAVER Arabia, in Saudi Arabia by the end of this year. To facilitate this, Naver will participate in Saudi Arabia’s Regional HQ (RHQ) program, which is designed to attract global companies. The company will initially collaborate on large-scale national projects in advanced technology fields and explore various business opportunities.

Additionally, Naver plans to establish joint ventures (JVs) with individual business units in Saudi Arabia. For example, Naver is currently participating as a partner in a project to build a digital twin platform in Saudi Arabia and is considering forming a JV with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing (MOMAH) and the National Housing Company (NHC).

With the full-scale cooperation between the two countries in building “sovereign AI” following the digital twin project, it is expected that Team Naver’s technology-based B2B business will expand its global reach first in the Middle East. In fact, Team Naver announced at GAIN 2024 on September 12th that it had signed a MOU with the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA), which oversees Saudi Arabia’s AI sector, and will be cooperating broadly in various technology fields such as AI, cloud, data centers, and robotics.

Meanwhile, key executives including Hae-jin Lee(GIO), Soo-yeon Choi(CEO), and Chief External Affairs & ESG Officer Seon-ju Chae visited Saudi Arabia to attend the third GAIN 2024 conference, which began on September 10th. During their visit, Team Naver met with key government officials including the Saudi MOMAH, the Minister of Commerce, the Minister of  Investment, and the Minister of Data and Artificial Intelligence, as well as top executives such as Nabil Al-Nuaim, Senior Vice President of Aramco, Mohammad Albuty, CEO of NHC, and Hussain Sajwani, founder of DAMAC.