OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is making significant strides in its ambitious Stargate AI infrastructure project, recently securing pivotal partnerships with South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. These agreements aim to bolster compute capacity for OpenAI's burgeoning artificial intelligence efforts, following a high-level meeting in Seoul between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, South Korea’s president Lee Jae-myung, Samsung Electronics’ executive chairman Jay Y. Lee, and SK chairman Chey Tae-won.

Under the newly inked agreements, Samsung and SK Hynix, two of the world’s largest manufacturers of memory chips, are committed to scaling their manufacturing capabilities to produce an impressive 900,000 high-bandwidth memory (HBM) DRAM memory chips per month. This output is destined for use in the Stargate project and various AI data centers, and, as noted by SK Group, would more than double the current industry capacity for HBM chips. South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung lauded these partnerships as a crucial opportunity for the nation's semiconductor industry to solidify its global leadership in AI and generate new employment opportunities.

The Stargate project itself is a colossal undertaking, a joint venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, aiming to invest up to $500 billion. Its primary goal is to establish extensive data centers specifically designed for AI development, primarily within the United States. OpenAI has already outlined plans for its flagship AI data center in Texas, alongside five additional data center complexes across the U.S., including two more in Texas, one in New Mexico, one in Ohio, and another in a yet-undisclosed Midwest location.

Beyond memory chip production, OpenAI's collaboration with South Korea extends to establishing a robust data center presence. Separate agreements have been reached with SK Telecom, South Korea's leading wireless carrier, to explore the development of an AI data center in the country, tentatively named "Stargate Korea." Furthermore, OpenAI has engaged with other Samsung affiliates, including Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries, to collaborate on advanced data center technologies and potentially expand local capacity. A notable initiative involves a joint commitment to developing floating data centers, which offer strategic advantages such as easing land scarcity, reducing cooling costs, and cutting carbon emissions compared to conventional land-based facilities.

These Wednesday agreements are part of a broader, frenetic period of investment in AI compute capacity for OpenAI. Just weeks prior, Nvidia announced an investment of up to $100 billion in OpenAI, granting the ChatGPT maker access to over 10 gigawatts of compute capacity via Nvidia’s AI training systems. This was swiftly followed by OpenAI's declaration of plans to build five data centers with SoftBank and Oracle for the Stargate project, aiming to increase its total compute capacity to 7 gigawatts. Earlier in September, Oracle had also agreed to sell $300 billion of compute capacity to OpenAI over five years. Additionally, as part of the new deals, Samsung and SK Group will integrate ChatGPT Enterprise and OpenAI APIs into their operational frameworks, showcasing a deeper technological partnership.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized Korea's strategic importance, stating that the country "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." Echoing this sentiment, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong highlighted the "pivotal moment with the advent of AI," stressing the imperative for industry-wide collaboration to effectively shape the future of artificial intelligence.