Seoul: Naver Corp., South Korea's largest online portal operator, announced on Friday a significant increase in its second-quarter net profit, attributing the rise to the impact of artificial intelligence on its core business operations. The company's net income for the April-June period reached 704.3 billion won (US$494.8 million), marking a 41.6 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the tech giant reported an operating profit of 520.3 billion won for the quarter, which represented a slight decrease of 0.2 percent. Despite this, Naver's revenue climbed 16.2 percent to 3.38 trillion won. The increase in quarterly earnings was largely driven by sales growth in key areas such as commerce and advertisements, bolstered by AI technology. Additionally, the expansion of global consumer-to-consumer platforms, including Poshmark, contributed to the positive financial results. However, investments in AI infrastructure led to a minor decline in operating profit.

Breaking down the performance by sector, Naver's search platform unit experienced a 12.3 percent increase in sales year-on-year, totaling 1.9 trillion won. The financial platform segment saw a 16 percent rise to 470.7 billion won, largely due to the rapid growth of Naver Smart Store. Global commerce platforms, including Poshmark and Wallapop, reported a sales surge of 24.4 percent to 1.16 trillion won. Meanwhile, sales in the contents division saw a modest 0.5 percent increase, and the enterprise business reported a 21.3 percent growth from the previous year.

Looking ahead, Naver anticipates new revenue streams from its AI factory, a joint venture with U.S. chip giant Nvidia, expected to commence operations in the early half of next year. "We plan to create new growth momentum in the AI computing market by securing customers through Nvidia's ecosystem and Naver's existing corporate and public clients," stated Choi Soo-yeon, Naver's CEO, in an official release.