OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman spent the weekend in South Korea meeting Samsung and SK Group leadership, building on memory chip partnerships struck a year ago.
Zoom in: Samsung said Saturday that Altman met around 50 executives from affiliates spanning electronics, finance and biotechnology in Yongin, south of Seoul. The agenda covered AI developments, business opportunities and the technology's effect on corporate decision making and operations.
- Altman also had lunch with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, joined by senior executives from SK Hynix and SK Telecom, according to South Korean media reports.
Between the lines: Local reports say the talks may have touched AI chips and data centers, including existing plans for high-bandwidth memory supply. Participants gave no details, and SK Hynix told CNBC it was unable to confirm the meeting.
The backstory: Altman last visited in October 2025, meeting President Lee Jae Myung, Samsung Electronics executive chairman Jay Y. Lee and Chey, and announced partnerships with both groups under OpenAI's Stargate program. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix then outlined plans to ramp production of advanced memory chips while the companies agreed to explore building AI data centers in the country.
- OpenAI cited South Korea's standing among global leaders in AI readiness, plus heavy public and private funding, as its reason for expanding there.
- Samsung said the trip follows a July meeting between Altman and Jay Y. Lee at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters. Altman left South Korea on Saturday, per local media.
Why it matters: High-bandwidth memory is the tightest link in the AI data center chain, and Samsung and SK Hynix supply most of it. An unannounced weekend of meetings in Yongin tells you more about OpenAI's 2027 compute plans than any launch event would.
