Naver is moving its healthcare business into full operational mode, combining a proprietary medical AI model with a cloud-based Electronic Medical Record (EMR) platform to deploy real-world hospital solutions. Backed by a strategic push from founder and board chairman Lee Hae-jin, the company has restructured its AI teams and executed a series of acquisitions to rapidly scale its medical AI footprint.
Clinical Impact of Medical AI
Naver’s medical large language model, Kmed.ai, was co-developed with Seoul National University Hospital and is designed to assist physicians with medical literature search and diagnostic support. In a benchmark evaluation using the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE), the model achieved a score of 96.4, outperforming competing global AI models. This result signals real-world clinical applicability beyond research settings.
Safety and Reliability for Patients and Clinicians
Naver’s healthcare strategy is deliberately weighted toward B2B medical infrastructure rather than consumer-facing services. By integrating AI into physician charting (EMR) and hospital cloud systems, the company aims to improve clinical accuracy and reduce administrative burden for healthcare professionals. The acquisition of cloud EMR provider Cenacle — whose platform “Oreum Chart” is already deployed at primary care clinics nationwide — gives Naver an immediate channel to bring its AI technology to the clinical frontline.
Improving Healthcare Accessibility
The convergence of cloud-based EMR and AI-assisted diagnostics has the potential to extend high-quality medical services beyond major hospitals to local clinics. Simultaneously, Naver is pursuing a global expansion strategy, targeting markets in Southeast Asia and Saudi Arabia with a “Sovereign AI” system optimized for Korea’s regulatory framework — an approach that aims to export the entire AI-powered medical infrastructure, not just software.
Cost Efficiency and Investment Track Record
Rather than building everything in-house, Naver has chosen a strategy of strategic equity investment and acquisitions to scale its medical AI ecosystem quickly. In the second half of last year, the company invested in clinical trial data platform J&P Medi and body composition analysis firm InBody, with the InBody stake valued at approximately 32.5 billion KRW. Combined with the Cenacle acquisition, Naver has rapidly assembled a vertically integrated stack covering medical data, platform, and AI technology.
Deployment Status and Outlook
In February of this year, Naver reorganized its structure to bring the “Applied AI Group” — its dedicated medical AI unit — under the direct authority of the CEO-level TechBusiness division. Industry observers expect Naver to link its accumulated healthcare data with B2C services such as Clova CareCall, building a broader medical data ecosystem before expanding internationally.
