OpenAI has signed massive new deals with South Korea’s two biggest tech giants, Samsung and SK, to secure a huge supply of AI chips and build new data centers in the country. The partnerships, announced during CEO Sam Altman’s visit to Seoul, represent a significant boost for the Korean tech industry and a crucial move for OpenAI as it expands its global AI infrastructure.
Both Samsung and SK will now be key suppliers for the “Stargate” project, a massive $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank aimed at building AI infrastructure in the U.S. As part of the deal, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will supply billions of dollars’ worth of their advanced, AI-specific memory chips, known as HBM. SK Group stated that OpenAI’s demand is more than double the entire world’s current production capacity for these chips, ensuring a substantial and stable business for Korean companies for years to come.
“SK Group has joined the Stargate project as a key partner,” said SK Chairman Chey Tae-won. But the deals go beyond just chips. OpenAI also announced plans to build two large-scale AI data centers in South Korea, one in collaboration with Samsung and another with SK. This will help support what Altman called the “sovereign AI needs of Korea” and build a “thriving local AI ecosystem.”
The partnerships were praised by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who said, “The expansion of AI is impossible without semiconductors, and Samsung and SK both play a central role in the global market.” The deals are a clear win-win, securing a critical supply chain for OpenAI while cementing South Korea’s position as a global AI powerhouse.
