OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is set to return to South Korea this weekend, embarking on a critical visit to forge deeper AI partnerships with leading Korean technology giants: Samsung Electronics, Kakao, and Naver. The leader behind ChatGPT aims to bolster collaboration across key areas including advanced AI infrastructure, generative AI integration in the workplace, and innovative consumer services.
Altman’s anticipated arrival in Korea is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, with his primary engagements kicking off on Monday, as per industry sources revealed on Thursday.
His itinerary highlights a significant stop at Samsung Electronics’ Digital City campus in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Here, he is slated to address employees from Samsung’s Device eXperience (DX) division, which oversees the company’s extensive consumer electronics and mobile device portfolio, during an exclusive “DX Insight Talk.”
This session is particularly timely as Samsung has recently enabled its workforce to utilize external generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini Enterprise, and Claude. This move is part of Samsung’s broader strategy to embed AI into its daily operational framework across the entire group.
During the talk, Altman is expected to share insights into AI’s transformative impact on workplace productivity and evolving corporate work practices. He will also engage in discussions with Samsung employees, exploring how generative AI is poised to fundamentally alter the operational dynamics of large-scale enterprises.
The visit further includes high-level meetings with Samsung Electronics executives, notably co-CEOs Jun Young-hyun and Roh Tae-moon.
Discussions are likely to advance earlier conversations surrounding OpenAI’s ambitious Stargate project, focusing on Samsung’s crucial role in supplying advanced memory chips vital for massive AI data centers. Furthermore, potential collaborations related to Samsung’s utilization and integration of ChatGPT will be a key agenda item.
A meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is improbable, as Chairman Lee is currently on an overseas business trip in Europe. Similarly, industry sources indicate that Altman is unlikely to meet SK Group officials during his concise one-night, two-day visit.
However, Altman is confirmed to visit Kakao’s headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday morning for talks with Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a.
This meeting is designed to expand upon the strategic partnership established by the two companies last year. A primary focus will be the closer integration between OpenAI’s ChatGPT and KakaoTalk, Korea’s most widely used messaging application, exploring enhanced AI features within the platform.
Kakao has been actively developing ChatGPT-powered functionalities for KakaoTalk, aiming to leverage the messenger’s rich conversational context to significantly improve its AI capabilities and user experience.
Later on Monday, Altman is scheduled to visit Naver in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.
Naver, renowned for its robust proprietary cloud and data center infrastructure, emerges as a highly prospective partner for OpenAI in areas such as advanced cloud services, efficient data center operations, and critical AI infrastructure development.
This trip marks Altman’s first return to Korea since October, when he held separate, high-profile meetings with Samsung’s Lee and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
During that prior visit, OpenAI formalized distinct agreements with both Samsung and SK, committing to collaborate on global AI infrastructure initiatives. These agreements prominently featured the supply of high-performance, low-power memory chips essential for Stargate, OpenAI’s monumental large-scale AI data center project.
Stargate is a formidable US-based AI infrastructure endeavor, spearheaded by OpenAI in collaboration with Oracle and Japan’s SoftBank. This ambitious project anticipates an investment of up to $500 billion over a four-year period.
OpenAI has projected that the Stargate project will demand an extraordinary volume of high-performance DRAM, estimating requirements equivalent to as many as 900,000 wafers per month.
In response to this demand, both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have committed to significantly expanding their production of cutting-edge memory chips and to developing next-generation high-performance, high-capacity products specifically engineered to power OpenAI’s most advanced AI models.
Altman is slated to depart from Korea on Monday evening, concluding his series of pivotal meetings with major Korean technology companies.
yeeun
