Samsung, SK, and OpenAI today announced new strategic partnerships as part of OpenAI’s Stargate initiative, the company’s overarching AI infrastructure platform, aimed at expanding infrastructure critical to AI development, globally and in Korea. 

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.

These partnerships will focus on increasing the supply of advanced memory chips essential for next-generation AI and expanding data center capacity in Korea, positioning Samsung and SK as key contributors to global AI infrastructure and supporting Korea’s ambition to become a top-three global AI nation.

Through these 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, critical for powering OpenAI’s advanced AI models.

OpenAI also signed a series of agreements today to explore developing next-generation AI data centers in Korea. These include a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) specifically to evaluate opportunities for building AI data centers outside the Seoul Metropolitan Area, supporting balanced regional economic growth and job creation across the country. 

The agreements signed today also include a separate partnership with SK Telecom to explore building an AI data center in Korea, as well as an agreement with Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Samsung SDS to assess opportunities for additional data center capacity in the country.

Samsung and SK will also look to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise and API capabilities into their operations to improve workflows and support new forms of innovation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said: “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.”

Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee said: “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.”

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won said: “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.”

Further details on the scope and specifics of these collaborations will be shared as plans progress.