Naver to Establish Middle East Headquarters in Saudi Arabia Within the Year... Chaesunju Likely to Lead as Head of Corporation

Promotion of Business Unit JV

Naver announced on the 23rd that it plans to establish a Middle East headquarters corporation in Saudi Arabia (tentatively named Naver Arabia) within this year.

Team Naver attending 'GAIN 2024' held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, since the 10th (local time). From the left, Esam Alwagait, Director of the Saudi National Information Center (NIC), Lee Hae-jin, Chief Investment Officer (GIO) of Naver, Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, Head of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, Chae Seon-ju, Head of External/ESG Policy at Naver, Seok Sang-ok, CEO of Naver Labs, Kim Yoo-won, CEO of Naver Cloud.
Photo by Naver

To this end, Naver will participate in the Regional HQ program offered by Saudi Arabia to global companies. The program aims to collaborate on large-scale national projects in advanced technology fields and to explore business opportunities.

Naver is also promoting the establishment of joint ventures (JVs) for individual business units in Saudi Arabia. This involves forming JVs with partners such as the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing (MOMAH) and the National Housing Company (NHC), who are participating in the Saudi digital twin platform construction project.

Following the digital twin project, as full-scale cooperation with Saudi Arabia begins in building 'Sovereign Artificial Intelligence (AI),' Naver plans to expand the global scope of its business-to-business (B2B) operations in the Middle East region. On the 12th, Naver attended the 'Global AI Summit 2024 (GAIN 2024)' and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), which oversees the AI sector in Saudi Arabia. Broad cooperation will commence across various technology fields including AI, cloud, data centers, and robotics.

Industry insiders expect Chae Seon-ju, Head of External/ESG Policy, who has led Saudi business efforts from the early stages, to be a strong candidate for the head of the Middle East headquarters. It is anticipated that she will concurrently manage the Middle East business along with her current external/ESG responsibilities in Korea.