South Korea's KOSPI index closed 1.0% higher at 6,755.75 points.

The KOSPI gained ground on Monday, driven by a rally in internet and semiconductor stocks.

Shares of South Korean internet and cloud services giant Naver surged more than 10% at one point on Monday after the company announced that Nvidia would subscribe to 1 trillion won in new shares to fund an artificial intelligence data center expansion project.

This move underscores a deepening partnership between the two firms. In June, the companies announced plans to jointly build global AI infrastructure to meet local AI demand in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East.

As a first step, the two companies, along with investment group Brookfield, announced on Friday plans to invest up to $10 billion to expand Naver's AI data center in South Korea.

Naver stated on Monday that, as part of the agreement, it will issue 7.2 million new shares to Nvidia at a price of 204,500 won per share, a 1% discount to Friday's closing price. Naver added that Brookfield will act as a capital partner for the project, providing up to $9 billion in financing.

Through this investment, Nvidia will become one of Naver's largest shareholders, holding a 4.5% stake. As of the end of 2025, the National Pension Service of Korea was Naver's largest shareholder with a 9.25% stake, followed by BlackRock Fund Advisors with a 6.12% stake.