Naver Cloud Operates 35,000 AMD EPYC Servers, to Adopt 144-Core CPUs This Year - THE ELEC, Korea Electronics Industry Media

Naver Cloud is significantly expanding the use of AMD's EPYC server central processing units (CPUs) in its data centers. The company operates approximately 250,000 servers across 13 data centers in South Korea, adding tens of thousands annually as demand for search, advertising and public cloud services continues to grow.

We currently operate about 35,000 servers powered by AMD EPYC processors, said Park Young-hee, head of Naver Cloud's Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Center, at the AMD Advancing AI Seoul 2026 event. The company plans to introduce fifth-generation, 144-core EPYC Turin (9005) processors in the second half of this year.

Cost efficiency benefits

The main reason Naver Cloud selected AMD EPYC was its lower total cost of ownership (TCO), which includes CPU prices, server rack space, power efficiency, cooling efficiency and infrastructure costs. EPYC reduces rack space requirements by 20% to 25% compared with Intel CPUs, allowing the company to secure additional space for CPUs in its data centers.

Performance advantages

Naver Cloud previously relied primarily on Intel's Xeon server CPUs but switched to AMD in search of higher core density. Measurements showed that an Intel dual-socket, 144-core platform consumed 800 watts, while a single-socket AMD EPYC 9825 platform consumed approximately 700 watts while delivering higher performance.

The company's transition began in 2023, purchasing 13,000 AMD units that year, 18,000 in 2024 and 36,000 last year. AMD's Early-Ship program, which provides next-generation CPUs to major customers before official launch, helped Naver Cloud accelerate its certification process and make faster adoption decisions.