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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] SEOUL, June 1, 2026 — Naver has established its first dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) organization focused exclusively on the defense sector, as it moves to strengthen sovereign AI capabilities in national security.
Naver Cloud said it will launch a Defense AX (AI Transformation) task force effective June 1, aimed at developing and commercializing AI solutions tailored for military applications.
The initiative will be led directly by Kim Yoo-won, highlighting the company’s strategic focus on expanding into defense-related AI services.
The task force will integrate AI model development, business development, and marketing functions to accelerate the creation of defense-specific AI models and solutions. It will also deploy Field Deployment Engineers (FDEs) to on-site defense environments to design and implement customized AI systems.
Naver’s move comes as competition in AI technologies increasingly extends into national security domains, where technological independence and data sovereignty are becoming critical priorities.
Industry experts note that defense applications involve highly sensitive data, making it essential for countries to build and operate independent AI models and infrastructure rather than relying on foreign technologies.
Naver Cloud plans to leverage its proprietary foundation models, cloud infrastructure, and sovereign AI capabilities to deliver secure, defense-optimized solutions.
The company is also exploring the use of omnimodal AI, which combines text, image, and voice data for advanced reasoning and content generation, in military applications.
The initiative has drawn comparisons to Palantir, which has seen rapid growth by providing data platforms to government, defense, and intelligence agencies.
Naver Cloud said it aims to further enhance customized AI solutions tailored to the unique requirements of defense and security environments, building on its core technologies.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
