Naver to Build Mega AI Data Center in Morocco as It Eyes European Expansion

South Korean tech giant Naver has announced plans to build a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Morocco, in partnership with NVIDIA and other global stakeholders. The initiative marks a significant milestone in Naver’s ambitions to expand its AI and cloud businesses across Europe.

The project will be led by a consortium comprising Naver, NVIDIA, infrastructure specialist Nexus Core Systems, and global investment firm Lloyds Capital. Together, they plan to construct a next-generation AI data center in Morocco, targeting sovereign AI computing services across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

Strategically located just 15 kilometers off the coast of Europe and directly linked via multiple undersea fiber-optic cables, Morocco offers a geographic advantage. Its competitive energy and operational costs also contributed to its selection as the site for a renewable energy-powered data center, with a planned capacity of up to 500 megawatts (MW). The consortium has secured a strategic energy supply agreement with TAQA, an energy company, ensuring a sustainable power infrastructure for the site.

The project will roll out in stages, beginning with Phase 1 in the fourth quarter of this year. This phase includes the deployment of a 40MW AI supercomputing infrastructure equipped with NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell (GB200) GPUs, expected to be operational within the year. The center is slated to scale up incrementally to its full 500MW capacity.

Naver Cloud, alongside Nexus Core Systems and Lloyds Capital, will serve as the primary platform operator for the facility. Leveraging its advanced cloud platform, Naver intends to offer integrated AI services and applications. The architecture is designed to comply with the EMEA region’s stringent data sovereignty requirements, enabling fully localized data storage, processing, and operation under a sovereign AI and cloud structure.

Naver is increasingly recognized for its proprietary capabilities across the full AI value chain, including AI services, data infrastructure, supercomputing, and cloud platforms. The company positions this initiative as a dual solution to Europe’s pressing concerns over data sovereignty and technological autonomy.

“The trust we’ve built through our successful execution in Saudi Arabia has led to this global opportunity,” said Chae Sun-joo, Naver’s Chief Strategy Officer. “This collaboration marks a pivotal point in extending our AI and cloud technologies from Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East to Europe.”

She added, “As the global AI value chain evolves rapidly, Naver will continue to strengthen its technological leadership and expand partnerships to play a meaningful role in shaping the future of AI.”

This article was originally published in Korean on Naver Newsroom