Naver grows increasingly concerned as AI investment is already priced in, while monetization remains a long way off

Naver's first-quarter revenue rose, but operating margin fell as AI infrastructure, content, and marketing costs increased.

The company is betting on GPUs and offline data accumulation as the foundation for future ad monetization.

Naver plans to launch AI ads in the second half and monetize the AI tab in the fourth quarter.

The key question for investors is how quickly Naver can turn its AI and commerce spending into profit recovery.