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Kim Yu-won, CEO of Naver Cloud (from left); Cedrik Neike, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Digital Industries; and Tino Hildebrand, Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Industries at Siemens Korea, attend the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony. / Courtesy of Naver Cloud

Naver Cloud announced on June 24 that it has partnered with Siemens Korea to accelerate the AI transformation of the manufacturing sector. By combining the strengths of Naver Cloud, a possessor of unrivaled AI and cloud capabilities, and Siemens, a global leader in factory automation and digitalization, the two companies plan to forge a new model of innovation for the manufacturing industry.

The two firms signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at Naver 1784 in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, with executives from both sides in attendance, including Kim Yu-won, CEO of Naver Cloud; Chew Kong Chian, President and CEO of Siemens Korea; and Tino Hildebrand, Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Industries at Siemens Korea. Notably, Cedrik Neike, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Digital Industries, personally attended the signing ceremony. It is highly anomalous for a global division CEO to attend a partnership ceremony geared at a single country, underscoring the strategic importance of the South Korean manufacturing market and the high expectations Siemens places on this collaboration.

Manufacturing is one of the sectors with the highest potential for AI transformation. Because vast amounts of data are generated throughout the entire lifecycle—from product design and production to operations and maintenance—the potential for leveraging AI to boost productivity and drive quality innovation is immense.

Siemens will support the digitalization of manufacturing floors based on its expertise and capacity to collect, interpret, and utilize data accumulated from global industrial sites. Naver Cloud will contribute its extensive experience in building and operating cloud infrastructure. Together, the two companies plan to jointly discover AI-driven innovation models and integrated solutions optimized for industrial settings.

Specifically, the cooperation will span several key areas: enhancing solution competitiveness by combining Siemens' automation, digital twin, industrial AI, and OT/IT convergence solutions with Naver Cloud's infrastructure; expanding industrial AI and DX solutions based on Naver Cloud's hyperscale and modular data centers and cloud services; jointly identifying prospective clients to expand market reach; and co-developing reference architectures.

"This collaboration marks a meaningful starting point where leaders in AI and cloud technology join forces with a pioneer in manufacturing innovation to reshape the industrial landscape," said Kim Yu-won, CEO of Naver Cloud. "Leveraging our AI and cloud platform, which offers strong data sovereignty and domestic regulatory compliance, we will support domestic manufacturers so they can tangibly experience the value of AI on the shop floor."

Cedrik Neike, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Digital Industries, remarked, "With manufacturing currently hitting a critical turning point for new innovation and a massive leap forward, establishing faster, more efficient, and flexible production systems is crucial to securing competitiveness today." He added, "Alongside Naver Cloud, Siemens will embed AI at the very heart of the entire product lifecycle—from design and production to operations—to accelerate manufacturing innovation and set a new standard for future industries."

                                                                                                           Kim Young-jin