OpenAI Signs Korea Partnerships, Appoints Kim

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited Seoul and signed partnership deals with Samsung and SK Hynix, meeting President Lee Jae Myung and agreeing to build new AI data centers in Korea as part of the Stargate initiative. The agreements focus on supplying AI-specific, high-bandwidth DRAM chips and expanding data-center capacity; OpenAI estimated Stargate may require up to 900,000 high-performance DRAM chips per month, prompting Samsung and SK to plan production overhauls. Samsung and SK also plan to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise and OpenAI API capabilities internally, and officials said the collaboration should boost exports, jobs and Korea’s goal to become a top-three global AI nation. Stargate — launched by OpenAI with partners including SoftBank and Oracle — seeks to build global AI infrastructure and has drawn additional commitments from major partners. Separately, OpenAI appointed Kim Kyoung-hoon, former Google Korea country director, as general manager of OpenAI Korea to lead local partnerships and expand the AI ecosystem amid surging ChatGPT adoption.