Naver has stayed out of South Korea's AI for All tender, leaving six operator proposals led by SK Telecom, MKD, ESTsoft, Xenon, Kakao and KT in the running for a government-backed service meant to offer free AI chatbots and public AI agents to all citizens. Naver, owner of HyperCLOVA X, said it would focus on AI projects already under way after considering consortium options until the deadline. The government has said selected operators can receive up to 512 Nvidia B200 GPUs this year, though labor costs are excluded. The project is designed to expand the use of domestic AI models in a generative AI market dominated by global technology companies. Tender rules require at least 50% of each service to run on a participant's own Korean foundation model and at least 30% on models from other domestic companies, pushing bidders toward consortium structures. KT filed with Upstage, Motif Technologies and NC AI; SK Telecom entered with its own consortium; and LG Uplus joined Kakao's group alongside LG AI Research, LG CNS, LG Electronics, FuriosaAI, Lunit, Seoul National University Hospital and Shinhan Bank. The ministry will screen documents and hold written and presentation evaluations before choosing two to three operators later this month, with a beta service planned before a full launch this year.