This article was published on the 23rd at 3 p.m. on Signal, a capital markets news service.
Brookfield Corporation CEO Bruce Flatt (second from left) poses for a photo with Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin (second from right), Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon (first from right) and Brookfield Korea head Park Jun-woo (first from left) during a visit to Naver 1784 in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the 3rd of this month. Courtesy of Naver
NAVER (035420) has joined forces with global asset manager Brookfield Asset Management to begin raising funds for a mega-scale artificial intelligence data center (AIDC). With total project costs exceeding 10 trillion won ($7.2 billion), major domestic financial institutions are expected to participate in large numbers and pursue project financing in stages.
Major commercial banks including KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank and Woori Bank (000030), along with large brokerages such as NH Investment & Securities (005940), are reviewing lending options for the Brookfield-led data center project from multiple angles, according to investment banking sources on the 23rd. One IB industry official said the loan size alone reaches trillions of won, prompting most large financial institutions to consider participating, and added that the structure will likely supply funds in several stages in line with the business and construction schedule.
The project is built on a strategic AI infrastructure partnership among NAVER, Brookfield and Nvidia. Nvidia is participating in NAVER’s $1 billion third-party allotment, while Brookfield takes sole charge of raising $9 billion. The most likely arrangement has Brookfield investing about half of the total project cost through its own funds, with the remainder raised through acquisition financing loans and other means.
Using these funds, NAVER plans to sharply expand the power capacity of its Sejong data center, known as Gak Sejong, to 200 megawatts from the current 55 megawatts. Brookfield will build the data center and infrastructure such as power and cooling systems, and NAVER will lease the facilities long term. Nvidia is expected to supply its latest AI chips to the data center.
The market expects loans from domestic financial institutions to account for trillions of won of the total project cost. One structure under review would have banks hold the loan claims, worth as much as 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion), directly without selling them down. Behind the financial sector’s willingness to lend aggressively is long-term demand from NAVER, a blue-chip tenant. A brokerage official said that because this is a premium asset with Nvidia also taking part, many financial institutions will join the lending.