Samsung and SK Join OpenAI's Stargate in Korea AI Push

Samsung Electronics and SK have signed strategic partnerships with OpenAI as part of the company's Stargate initiative, with the two Korean giants targeting 900,000 DRAM wafer starts per month to supply advanced memory chips for OpenAI's next-generation AI models.

The announcement followed a meeting between President Lee Jae-myung, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Chairman Chey Tae-won, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the Presidential Office in Seoul. The gathering at the head of Korea's government signals the political weight attached to the deal. OpenAI described Stargate as its overarching AI infrastructure platform, aimed at expanding infrastructure critical to AI development, globally and in Korea.

The stakes are considerable on both sides. For OpenAI, the agreements secure supply of the two inputs that most constrain frontier AI development: advanced memory and data center capacity. HBM and other high-bandwidth DRAM products have become bottleneck components as model training and inference workloads grow. For Korea, the deal ties the country's two largest industrial groups — and its government — directly to one of the world's most heavily funded AI labs, supporting Seoul's stated ambition to become a top-three global AI nation.

Chips first: 900,000 wafer starts per month

Under the partnerships, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix plan to scale up production of advanced memory chips, targeting 900,000 DRAM wafer starts per month at an accelerated capacity rollout. The companies described this output as critical for powering OpenAI's advanced AI models.

That figure covers production capacity across the two memory makers, both of which rank among the world's largest suppliers of DRAM. The accelerated rollout matters because memory supply, not just compute silicon, increasingly determines how quickly large AI systems can be trained and served to users at scale.

Data centers across Korea

OpenAI also signed a series of agreements to explore developing next-generation AI data centers in Korea. The package spans both the public and private sectors.

The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) to evaluate opportunities for building AI data centers outside the Seoul Metropolitan Area. According to the announcement, the MoU is intended to support balanced regional economic growth and job creation across the country — a policy goal that extends beyond the AI industry itself.

On the private side, OpenAI signed a separate partnership with SK Telecom to explore building an AI data center in Korea. A further agreement with Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Samsung SDS will assess opportunities for additional data center capacity in the country.

The spread of counterparties is notable. The Samsung agreements reach beyond the semiconductor arm into construction, heavy industry, and IT services — the kind of corporate breadth needed to stand up large-scale facilities covering engineering, power, and operations.

ChatGPT Enterprise inside Samsung and SK

Samsung and SK will also deploy ChatGPT Enterprise and API capabilities into their operations, according to the announcement, to improve workflows and support new forms of innovation. This makes the deal two-directional: Korea supplies the physical substrate for OpenAI's models, while OpenAI's software enters the conglomerates' internal operations.

What the executives said

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman framed the partnerships in terms of Korea's overall readiness. "Korea has all the ingredients to be a global leader in AI—incredible tech talent, world-class infrastructure, strong government support, and a thriving AI ecosystem. We're excited to work with Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and the Ministry of Science and ICT through our global Stargate initiative to support Korea's AI ambitions," Altman said.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee cast the deal as an industry-wide imperative. "The world is at a pivotal moment with the advent of AI, and the industry must collaborate to effectively chart the future. Samsung is excited to partner with OpenAI, where we will together catalyze breakthroughs and possibilities," Lee said.

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won described the broadest scope of the three, positioning SK as a partner across the entire AI stack. "Partnering on Stargate represents a landmark moment for SK and the official starting point for comprehensive technological innovation, with SK bringing powerful synergies across the full AI stack—memory semiconductors, data centers, energy, and networks. As primary partners, SK and OpenAI will jointly drive global AI infrastructure innovation through expanding collaboration spanning infrastructure, model development, applications, and breakthrough research on next-generation AI computing solutions," Chey said.

Chey's reference to research on next-generation AI computing solutions suggests the SK collaboration extends beyond capacity supply into technical co-development. The announcement did not specify what form that research would take.

Why it matters

The deals anchor Stargate's footprint in one of the world's most concentrated semiconductor and networking supply chains. Samsung and SK hynix together control a large share of global DRAM output, and SK's involvement — spanning SK hynix memory, SK Telecom, energy, and networks — bundles several layers of AI infrastructure into a single corporate relationship.

The political dimension is equally significant. The meeting at the Presidential Office, attended by President Lee Jae-myung alongside both chairmen and Altman, aligns the partnerships with Korea's national AI strategy. The MSIT memorandum tying data center development to regional growth outside the Seoul capital area reflects that policy linkage.

For OpenAI, the Korea agreements extend a Stargate initiative the company describes as its global AI infrastructure platform, adding an East Asian production and siting base to its buildout plans.

What comes next

The companies said further details on the scope and specifics of the collaborations will be shared as plans progress. The data center agreements, in particular, remain at the exploration and assessment stage — MoUs and feasibility studies rather than confirmed builds — meaning the tangible footprint of Stargate in Korea will depend on what follows the signatures.