Sam Altman Meets Samsung and SK Leaders to Deepen Stargate Ties

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman traveled to South Korea for a two-day visit starting October 30, meeting leaders of Samsung and SK Group in quick succession to discuss cooperation on the Stargate AI infrastructure project. It was his first visit to the country in about a year.

Altman was accompanied by Richard Ho, vice president of hardware, Chief People Officer Arvind KC, and Kiran Mani, head of Asia-Pacific and Japan. The trip was seen as an effort to strengthen ties built on the strategic partnerships signed in October last year. No investment amounts or construction schedules from the talks have been disclosed.

SK: memory and data centers

On October 31, Altman reportedly had lunch with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and met senior executives from SK hynix and SK Telecom. The content of the talks has not been made public, but industry watchers expect they covered high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply and AI data center plans. Last October, SK and OpenAI agreed on a letter of intent for memory chip supply and a southwest-region AI data center, with SK hynix handling memory and SK Telecom co-building the facility.

Samsung: beyond infrastructure

Altman also held a session at the Samsung Human Resources Development Center in Yongin with about 50 presidents of Samsung affiliates, including Jun Young-hyun of the Device Solutions division and Roh Tae-moon of the Device eXperience division. Topics included applying AI to corporate decision-making and using ChatGPT Enterprise to improve productivity and competitiveness.

"In the future, simply using AI will not give you a lasting competitive advantage," Altman said, adding that the edge will depend on how companies use it to move faster and build better products. He said he looks forward to continued work with Samsung to deliver high-quality AI globally at scale.

Samsung already takes part in Stargate through several affiliates: Samsung Electronics on memory supply, Samsung SDS on data centers and enterprise AI, and Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries on floating offshore data centers.

OpenAI is reportedly pursuing a southeast-region data center centered on Pohang with Samsung, and a southwest-region site in Jangseong, Jeonnam, with SK. The next test is whether the memory supply talks and data center plans turn into binding contracts and investment.