Naver posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue, fueled by strong performance in AI-integrated advertising and commerce businesses and explosive growth in its global consumer-to-consumer (C2C) segment. However, operating profit slipped slightly due to preemptive infrastructure investments aimed at securing AI competitiveness.

Naver disclosed on the 7th that its consolidated Q2 2026 revenue reached ₩3.39 trillion (approximately $2.4 billion), with operating profit of ₩520.3 billion (approximately $366.4 million). Revenue rose 16.2% year-over-year, setting a new quarterly record, but operating profit dipped 0.2% due to the impact of AI infrastructure spending. Net profit surged 41.6% to ₩704.3 billion (approximately $496.0 million).

By business segment, the AI-driven monetization strategy proved effective. Naver’s platform segment revenue grew 12.3% year-over-year to ₩1.9 trillion (approximately $1.3 billion). Advertising revenue, in particular, rose 7.5% to ₩1.45 trillion (approximately $1.0 billion), bolstered by AI-based ad placement optimization and enhanced targeting. The company emphasized that AI contributed more than 60% of total advertising revenue growth. The “AI Briefing Ads,” officially launched in late July, recorded click-through conversion rates over 30% higher and purchase conversion rates more than three times higher than traditional search ads, validating the monetization potential of generative AI services. Commerce-focused service revenue also jumped 31.3% to ₩455 billion (approximately $320.4 million), driven by enhancements to Naver Plus Store, membership programs, and N-Delivery.

Financial platform revenue rose 16.0% to ₩470.7 billion (approximately $331.5 million). Boosted by Smart Store growth and expansion of the external payment ecosystem, Naver Pay’s Q2 payment volume increased 21.0% year-over-year to ₩25.2 trillion (approximately $17.7 billion). External payment volume also grew 26.2% to ₩14.1 trillion (approximately $9.9 billion). Naver plans to leverage the rapid adoption of its “Npay Connect” integrated offline terminal to aggressively enter the B2B AI platform market.

The global challenge segment surpassed ₩1 trillion (approximately $704.3 million) in quarterly revenue for the first time, climbing 24.4% year-over-year to ₩1.02 trillion (approximately $715.5 million), propelled by the explosive growth of its C2C business. C2C revenue skyrocketed 74.9%, driven by strengthened competitiveness of overseas C2C platforms including Wallapop, Poshmark, and Soda. The enterprise segment, led by AI and digital twin-based B2B businesses, also grew 21.3% to ₩153.7 billion (approximately $108.2 million).

However, rising costs from aggressive investments weighed on the bottom line. Q2 operating expenses surged 19.8% year-over-year to ₩2.87 trillion (approximately $2.0 billion). Development and operations costs rose 15.2% to ₩786.9 billion (approximately $554.2 million), while partner costs—which include World Cup broadcasting rights and offline payment terminal investments—increased 22%, and marketing expenses grew 25.4%.

Naver’s key Q2 2026 results are as follows:

CategoryQ2 2026YoY ChangeRevenue₩3.39 trillion16.2%Operating Profit₩520.3 billion-0.2%Net Profit₩704.3 billion41.6%Naver Platform Revenue₩1.9 trillion12.3%Financial Platform Revenue₩470.7 billion16.0%Global Challenge Revenue₩1.02 trillion24.4%Naver Pay Payment Volume₩25.2 trillion21.0%

Note: Consolidated basis; percentage changes are year-over-year.

The highly anticipated AI Factory venture with NVIDIA is expected to begin generating meaningful revenue in the first half of next year. Naver has established a wholly owned subsidiary to operate the AI Factory and structured a special purpose company (SPC) to own data centers and GPUs, attracting global investor capital to reduce initial capital burden. The company plans to launch services at 55MW capacity in the first half of next year, expand to 100MW by year-end, and reach 200MW by 2028. The long-term vision involves scaling up to 1GW through a combination of building proprietary data centers and pursuing global partnerships.

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, stated during the earnings conference call, “Through our strategic partnership with NVIDIA, we have built a foundation to rapidly scale the business while minimizing initial capital burden.” She added, “By proactively securing customers for initial operational capacity through our global enterprise clients and existing corporate and public sector customer base, we will generate meaningful revenue and profit early on, establishing a new growth engine in the global AI computing market.”

The results are seen as evidence that Naver’s AI technology is no longer in the experimental phase but is delivering tangible monetization results in core businesses like advertising and commerce. In particular, the high conversion rates of AI-based advertising products and the explosive growth of the C2C business are considered key drivers that will continue to fuel Naver’s top-line growth in the second half of the year. However, with large-scale AI infrastructure investments ongoing, defending short-term profitability remains a challenge going forward.