Samsung, SK hynix to supply chips for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate project

Korea’s two major chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, will supply memory chips for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate initiative, a massive effort to build next-generation data centers in the United States to meet surging demand driven by artificial intelligence.

The Stargate project, co-led by SoftBank and Oracle, is expected to require around 900,000 high-performance dynamic random access memory wafers each month to sustain AI data centers, according to OpenAI’s forecasts.

Apart from Samsung Electronics, three other Samsung affiliates — Samsung SDS, Samsung C&T, and Samsung Heavy Industries — will contribute to data center design, construction and operations. Samsung SDS will serve as OpenAI’s enterprise service partner, supporting domestic clients with the integration of AI models into business systems. Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries will focus on developing floating data centers — offshore facilities designed to cut cooling costs and reduce carbon emissions. Still in the research and development stage, these projects also include floating power generation systems and control centers.

The four Samsung units and SK hynix formalized their respective roles through a letter of intent with OpenAI, the companies confirmed on October 1. Samsung Electronics Executive Chair Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met separately with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for the signing. Altman was in Seoul for a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung, who has sought the CEO’s input on the AI transformation, a central pledge of his campaign.

For SK, SK hynix will supply high bandwidth memory chips for OpenAI, while its mobile unit, SK Telecom, will co-build a data center in Korea’s southwest region.

This marks Altman’s second trip to South Korea this year, following a February visit to announce OpenAI’s partnership with Kakao, the country’s dominant messenger operator. Since then, he has actively pursued deeper ties with Korean chipmakers to address ballooning data center requirements.

The global data center market is projected to grow from $386.7 billion in 2025 to more than $1 trillion by 2034, according to Precedence Research. The memory semiconductor segment is forecast to expand at an annual rate of 14 percent between 2024 and 2032, according to market tracker Dataintelo.

These partnerships have been driven by Samsung’s Lee and SK’s Chey. Lee personally spoke with Altman by phone to finalize the deal, while Chey met with him multiple times since 2023 to discuss AI inference chips and related infrastructure development. A closed-door meeting earlier this year at Samsung’s headquarters in Seocho District, southern Seoul, brought together Altman, Lee, and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son.

OpenAI has been ramping up its presence in the country, launching OpenAI Korea, its local unit, in September. Altman is also expected to return later this month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, with reports suggesting other Big Tech chiefs such as Apple’s Tim Cook and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang may also attend.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]