OpenAI Partners with South Korea’s Tech Giants to Power the Next Generation of AI Infrastructure

OpenAI announced a series of strategic partnerships with South Korean technology leaders Samsung and SK Group to accelerate the development of Stargate, a landmark $500 billion initiative aimed at building next-generation infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

The announcements followed a meeting in Seoul between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, and senior executives from the country’s major conglomerates. President Lee hailed the partnerships as a “defining moment” for South Korea’s semiconductor industry, underscoring its central role in the global AI economy and its potential to drive innovation-led job creation.

Under the agreements, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix—the world’s two largest memory chipmakers—will expand collaboration with OpenAI to supply and co-develop advanced memory solutions optimized for AI workloads. The companies will work closely with OpenAI to meet the surging demand for high-performance chips critical to powering the Stargate initiative’s vast computing ecosystem.

In parallel, OpenAI and SK Telecom, South Korea’s leading wireless carrier, signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the establishment of “Stargate Korea,” an advanced AI data center designed to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure and support OpenAI’s regional expansion.

Expanding the scope of cooperation, Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries will partner with OpenAI on pioneering floating data center technologies—a forward-looking approach that could ease land-use constraints, improve energy efficiency through seawater cooling, and reduce carbon emissions associated with large-scale computing facilities.

“These partnerships represent a powerful convergence of AI innovation and semiconductor excellence,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. “South Korea’s world-class technology ecosystem makes it a natural partner as we build the global infrastructure needed to support the next generation of AI.”

The multi-faceted collaborations position South Korea as a critical hub in OpenAI’s global AI infrastructure strategy, linking advanced chip manufacturing, telecom innovation, and sustainable engineering to the future of intelligent computing.