OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman met executives from Samsung and SK Group in South Korea for the first time in about a year to discuss business cooperation. The meetings with key participants in Stargate, a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure initiative, have raised expectations that discussions on memory chip supplies and the development of AI data centers in South Korea will accelerate.
According to the IT industry on November 2, Altman arrived in South Korea on October 30 for a two-day visit. Senior executives accompanying Altman included Richard Ho, vice president responsible for hardware; Arvind KC, chief people officer (CPO); and Kiran Mani, managing director for Asia Pacific and Japan. The visit was viewed as an effort to strengthen cooperation with Korean companies on the basis of strategic partnerships established in October 2025.
Industry attention focused on whether the meetings would help turn plans for Stargate cooperation into actual investments and business projects. Samsung and SK are both memory supply partners for OpenAI's large-scale AI infrastructure expansion and partners in developing AI data centers in South Korea. Specific investment amounts or construction start dates discussed during the visit were not disclosed.
Altman reportedly met key executives from SK hynix and SK Telecom during a lunch with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won on October 31. Although details of their conversations have not been made public, observers suggested that they would have discussed how to advance existing cooperation, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supplies and AI data center development.
In October 2025, SK Group and OpenAI signed a letter of intent (LOI) on memory chip supplies and agreed to work together to develop an AI data center in the southwestern region. SK hynix agreed to pursue memory supplies, while SK Telecom agreed to jointly develop the data center and use it to develop AI services and next-generation data center technologies.
Chey and Altman also discussed the direction of long-term cooperation at an AI Summit held in San Francisco in July. Analysts suggested that the latest meeting was also likely to have served as an opportunity for the two companies to review progress and the future direction of their joint projects.
In the meeting with Samsung, the scope of cooperation expanded beyond infrastructure to AI transformation across the group. On the same day, Altman held a discussion on management strategy in the AI era with about 50 presidents of major Samsung affiliates at the Samsung Human Resources Development Institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Participants included Jun Young-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division, and Roh Tae-moon, head of its Device eXperience (DX) division, as well as executives from electronics, finance and biotechnology businesses.
Samsung is already participating in Stargate cooperation through several affiliates. Samsung Electronics signed a letter of intent on memory chip supplies in October 2025. Samsung SDS agreed to cooperate with OpenAI on AI data centers and enterprise AI services, while Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries agreed to cooperate on developing offshore floating data centers. In July 2026, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong visited OpenAI's headquarters to strengthen the relationship.
In addition to these business partnerships, the discussion covered ways to incorporate AI into corporate decision-making and organisational operations. Participants also discussed how ChatGPT Enterprise, the enterprise version of ChatGPT, could support practical workplace innovation and stronger competitiveness. The article interprets this as broadening the relationship from jointly building AI infrastructure to using AI in business management.
Closer cooperation with the Korean groups is also linked to the direction of Stargate projects in South Korea. OpenAI is pursuing an AI data center in the southeastern region with Samsung Electronics, focused on Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province. With SK Group, it is pursuing an AI data center in the southwestern region, with Gwangju Advanced District 3 in Jangseong, South Jeolla Province, considered a leading candidate site.
Industry observers said that, with the visit reaffirming senior executives' willingness to cooperate, the next key issue would be specifying implementation plans. They expected the success of the Korean AI partnership to be measured by whether memory supply discussions and data center proposals lead to actual contracts and investment.
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Altman emphasised, "Simply using AI will no longer be enough to secure a sustainable competitive advantage. Competitive advantage will depend on how you use AI to move faster, build better products and get ahead of competitors."
Altman added, "I have high expectations for our continued cooperation with Samsung. There is an opportunity for the two companies to work together to deliver high-quality AI at scale around the world."
Original Korean article: ZDNet Korea
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
