Chipmaking Team Korea joins OpenAI's $500 Billion AI initiative

SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) - South Korea’s chipmaking giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have signed a preliminary agreement with OpenAI to join the $500 billion “Stargate” initiative aimed at proliferating next-generation AI data centers worldwide.

Under the letter of intent, Samsung and SK hynix are prepared to commit as much as 8 trillion won ($6 billion) a month to the project, which is co-led by SoftBank and Oracle. The partnership extends beyond memory supply to include affiliates Samsung SDS, Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, and SK Telecom.

The Korean suppliers will provide high-performance, low-power semiconductors such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Samsung Electronics, the world’s top memory maker, has the capacity to produce up to 650,000 wafers monthly, while SK hynix dominates the HBM market as the chief supplier to Nvidia.

OpenAI has requested a monthly supply of up to 900,000 DRAM wafers—more than double the world’s current HBM output capacity. If finalized, the deal would mark the largest semiconductor contract in South Korean history.

The agreement was signed by Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at SK’s Seorin headquarters in central Seoul.

Altman is expected to return later this month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, joining Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Apple CEO Tim Cook. President Lee Jae-myung also met with Altman on Wednesday to discuss bilateral cooperation in AI transformation and ecosystem development.