Two Largest Memory Chip Producers Join Stargate Initiative

Seoul, Oct. 3 — Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and OpenAI today announced new strategic partnerships under OpenAI’s Stargate initiative, a global effort to expand AI infrastructure, with a strong focus on Korea. Together with U.S.-based Micron Technology, these three companies control roughly 95% of the total DRAM market. 

The announcement followed a high-level meeting between President Lee Jae-myung, Samsung Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Chairman Chey Tae-won, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the Presidential Office in Seoul.

The partnerships aim to scale advanced memory chip production and expand data centre capacity in Korea, reinforcing the country’s ambition to become a top-three global AI hub.

Samsung and SK hynix plan to accelerate production to 900,000 DRAM wafer starts per month, providing critical hardware to power OpenAI’s advanced AI models.

OpenAI also signed agreements with the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT to explore building AI data centres outside Seoul, supporting regional development and job creation. Additional collaborations with SK Telecom, Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Samsung SDS will assess further data centre expansion.

Both Samsung and SK will also integrate ChatGPT Enterprise and OpenAI APIs into operations to boost productivity and innovation.

Altman said Korea combines “world-class infrastructure, strong government support, and thriving AI talent”, positioning it as a future leader in AI.

“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 catalyse breakthroughs and possibilities,” Lee added.