Naver (035420.KS) shares surged on news of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's planned visit to Korea, fueling expectations of deeper cooperation between the two companies.
The stock closed at 271,500 won on Monday, up 16.03%, or 37,500 won, from the previous trading day, according to the Korea Exchange. Shares briefly soared as much as 29.91% during the session to 304,000 won, near the daily upper limit.
Naver shares had slipped to the 190,000 won range on Nov. 27 but jumped 14.15% on Nov. 29 amid speculation about Huang's visit and partnership expectations, before extending the rally on Monday.
Naver, which had been relatively sidelined in the AI semiconductor rally led by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, is emerging as a so-called "Jensen Huang beneficiary stock," following LG Group and Doosan Group.
Huang will attend Computex 2026, Asia's largest information technology exhibition, which opens in Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday. At the "Korea Partner Night" held during the event, major Korean companies including Naver, Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Electronics and Doosan are scheduled to meet with Huang.
After Computex wraps up, Huang is expected to travel to Korea this week and visit Naver's headquarters on Dec. 8.
According to the IT industry on Monday, Huang is currently coordinating with Naver to visit the company's "1784" headquarters in Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, during his trip. Huang is also reported to meet with Naver Founder and Board Chairman Lee Hae-jin on Dec. 5.
The 1784 building is regarded as a space that brings together Naver's future technologies, including robotics, cloud computing and digital twins. In March, AMD CEO Lisa Su visited the site in person to meet with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and discuss AI infrastructure cooperation.
The industry sees that, if the meeting takes place, cooperation could expand across the broader artificial intelligence ecosystem, including AI infrastructure, sovereign AI and physical AI.
Indeed, Huang directly mentioned Naver Cloud in his keynote speech at Nvidia's annual technology event "Nvidia GTC," held one day before the opening of Computex.
Huang highlighted the partnership by placing a heart (♥) image between the Nvidia and Naver Cloud logos on the presentation screen. The screen also featured the Bank of Korea, the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Hyundai Motor Group, HD Hyundai and Hanwha Aerospace.
Market observers interpret the move as a sign that Naver is strengthening its position as a key partner within Nvidia's AI ecosystem. However, Naver said regarding Huang's visit schedule, "We cannot confirm it at this time."
