Choi Soo-yeon

Naver CEO Choi Soo-Yeon leads one of South Korea’s Big Tech companies. Best known for its search engine, the company also has interests in e-commerce, cloud computing, and user-generated content. Now in her second term as CEO, Choi is trying to integrate AI into the company’s core services. In 2024, Naver reported revived strength in its advertising and e-commerce businesses to grow revenue past 10 trillion Korean won ($7 billion), a first for any local internet company. Naver’s next big idea: “sovereign AI,” tailored to a country’s unique culture, circumstances, and characteristics. It’s also just released an open-source model—Hyper CLOVA X SEED—for free.