During OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s visit to Korea on Wednesday, Samsung and SK each signed major partnerships with OpenAI to work on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Samsung and SK signed letters of intent with OpenAI. These deals allow Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to provide AI-focused memory chips for a major project.
The project, called Stargate, is a $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to build AI infrastructure in the U.S. The memory chips supplied will be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
For the Stargate project, OpenAI will need around 900,000 wafers of high-performance DRAM every month to power ChatGPT and other AI tools.
During his visit, Altman said OpenAI plans to buy a large part of these chips from Samsung and SK, giving the Korean companies a stable and long-term customer.
Samsung Group said Wednesday its Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Altman signed a letter of intent (LOI) for a partnership on AI infrastructure. The LOI involves Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDS, Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries.
Under this partnership, Samsung Electronics will provide low-power memory chips to OpenAI to make sure ChatGPT has a reliable supply of memory. While Samsung hasn’t confirmed the exact type of chip, it is expected to be high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a type of DRAM crucial for running AI accelerators like GPUs in data centers.
Samsung Electronics offers a wide range of products, including memory chips, system semiconductors, and foundry services, covering everything needed for AI training and AI tasks.
The company said it can give OpenAI unique solutions by using its advanced packaging technologies and combining memory and system semiconductors.
SK Group also signed a letter of intent (LOI) and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during a meeting between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Under the LOI, SK hynix, the world’s top HBM supplier, will provide HBM chips for the Stargate project and secure enough manufacturing capacity to meet OpenAI’s huge demand—more than double the current global HBM production.
“SK Group has joined Stargate project as a key partner,” Chey said during the signing ceremony. “We will focus on our integrated AI infrastructure capabilities on this partnership, taking an active role in driving global AI infrastructure innovation and strengthening Korea’s national AI competitiveness.”
In addition to working together on GPUs, SK hynix and OpenAI will talk about ways to expand their partnership further.
“The deals come as a critical juncture for the Korean AI ecosystem, as guaranteed semiconductor production worth hundreds of billions of dollars for years to come,” a senior industry official said.
“The expansion of AI is impossible without semiconductors, and Samsung and SK both play a central role in the global market,” President Lee said. “The HBM supply partnership LOIs signed by the three companies are a win-win partnership that will lead the global market. We also expect the collaboration to contribute to expanding exports and creating jobs in Korea, and hope that Samsung and SK will play a key role in the global spread of AI together with OpenAI.”
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