Naver Cloud has signed a strategic agreement with construction management firm Hanmi Global to target large-scale international data center projects, with a focus on Saudi Arabia.

The South Korean companies aim with this alliance to meet a global demand for digital infrastructure and position themselves as key partners to the Kingdom’s digital transformation plans.

Under the agreement, Naver will be responsible for technology strategy and designing business structures tailored to international standards.

Hanmi Global will handle data center design and construction consultancy, project management, and local licensing and business execution in Saudi Arabia.

The construction consultancy already has a significant presence in the Middle East and has delivered over 50 projects since entering the market in 2007.

Although Naver does not currently operate any data centers in the region, last year it launched a joint venture with Saudi Arabia's National Housing Company to develop a map-based ‘super-app’ and digital twin-based services to support the kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy.

Vision 2030 aims to diversify the country’s oil-dependent economy through digital transformation and technology infrastructure. 

Major tech companies, including Google, AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and Huawei, have committed to launching cloud regions and data centers in the kingdom, with AWS alone pledging a $5.3bn investment, announced in March 2024. 

Naver Cloud’s CEO, Kim Yu-won, said: “Naver Cloud has established a foundation for execution through the establishment of a local subsidiary and cooperation with key institutions, and Hanmi Global is also a proven partner that has completed numerous projects in the Middle East.

“Based on this agreement, we will actively respond to the demand for building digital infrastructure in the Middle East and emerging markets.”

Naver currently lists six cloud regions in South Korea, as well as one each in Japan, Germany, Singapore, and the US (West Coast). It is also planning future regions in the US (East Coast), Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand.

It previously exited Hong Kong. The company also lists plans for a 10MW site in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a capacity totaling 40MW across Sweden.

In January, Naver said it had completed a cluster of 4,000 Nvidia B200 GPUs in one of its data centers in South Korea.

Learn more about the data center market in Saudi Arabia and meet with other executives and experts in the region at the DCN Riyadh event next year.