NHN profit slips on AI GPU investment despite revenue growth

May 12, 2026, 12:43 pm

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The headquarters building of NHN. /NHN

NHN posted solid revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026, although operating profit declined slightly due to upfront investment in AI GPU infrastructure aimed at expanding its cloud and artificial intelligence businesses.

The company said Tuesday that consolidated first-quarter revenue reached 671.4 billion won, up 11.9% from a year earlier, while operating profit fell 5.0% to 26.3 billion won.

Growth was led by the gaming business, which benefited from eased regulations on web board games. Game revenue rose 6.8% on-year to 127.8 billion won. The company said changes to the regulatory environment introduced in February helped increase average revenue per user (ARPU), driving an 11% increase in overall web board game sales.

NHN also reported strong performance in its Japanese mobile game business. “LINE Disney Tsum Tsum” posted a 47% increase in revenue from a year earlier thanks to its 12th anniversary event and a collaboration with the Detective Conan franchise. Meanwhile, “#Compass” topped Japan’s iOS sales rankings following a collaboration with Chainsaw Man.

CEO Jeong Woo-jin said during an earnings conference call that the company is preparing to shift its strategy toward the Japanese market rather than focusing primarily on Korea’s domestic gaming sector.

“We are pursuing contracts involving intellectual properties with strong recognition in Japan, and we are also working on new projects currently in the code-name stage,” he said.

The payment business generated 354.6 billion won in revenue, up 22.1% from a year earlier, driven by increased transaction volume at NHN KCP and growth in PAYCO’s corporate welfare solution business.

NHN said it plans to combine the capabilities of NHN KCP and PAYCO to prepare for next-generation payment markets based on stablecoins.

Revenue from the technology segment rose 19% on-year to 125.7 billion won. NHN Cloud continued expanding its public and AI infrastructure businesses, while its Japanese technology affiliate NHN Techorus posted growth through its AWS resale business.

However, increased infrastructure spending for the AI GPU business weighed on profitability. NHN Cloud recently began operating liquid-cooled NVIDIA B200 GPUs as part of a government GPU infrastructure project and was selected as a supplier for a national AI data center upgrade initiative.

The company also signed a GPU supply agreement with AI infrastructure firm VESSL AI to secure additional revenue streams.

NHN previously announced a target of generating about 300 billion won in revenue over the next five years through its GPU operations business.

CFO Ahn Hyun-sik said the company’s long-term revenue target remains unchanged.

“We expect revenue generated from the Yangpyeong region this year to be quite significant, and in terms of cloud service provider revenue, we are anticipating annual growth of around 30%,” he said.

Separately, NHN announced plans to repurchase 16.7 billion won worth of treasury shares, which will be fully canceled after acquisition.

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