OpenAI's Altman meets Samsung chiefs to discuss memory chips and AI infrastructure

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman met about 50 heads of Samsung Group affiliates at Samsung's human resources development center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on October 31, to discuss how artificial intelligence will change businesses over the next decade and cooperation on memory-chip supply and AI infrastructure. Bloomberg reported the talks come as shortages across a broad range of memory products strain the global electronics industry and push chip prices higher.

Theme and attendees

According to Samsung, the session was themed “The Next 10 Years AI Will Change, the Choice of Companies,” with participants drawn from electronics, financial and biotechnology affiliates. Attendees included Jeon Young-hyun, vice chairman and head of Samsung Electronics' DS division, Roh Tae-moon, head of the DX division, and chiefs of Samsung SDI and Samsung Electro-Mechanics; Altman's delegation included OpenAI's vice president of hardware. The group also discussed AI's impact on corporate decision-making and organization, and new business opportunities, and participants received hands-on generative AI training ahead of the roundtable.

Background: Stargate and floating data centers

The cooperation dates back to a letter of intent signed in October last year: Samsung Electronics supplies high-performance memory semiconductors for OpenAI's large-scale AI infrastructure project Stargate; Samsung SDS works on AI data center construction and enterprise AI services; Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries pursue offshore floating data centers. During the same trip, Altman also had lunch in Seoul with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, joined by executives from SK hynix and SK Telecom.

No new deal announced

No outlet reports a new purchase agreement, supply volume, price or timetable from Saturday's meeting. Samsung said it plans to complete AI training for all employees by February next year. Bloomberg noted memory accounts for roughly a third of data-center spending, but neither company has said the shortage itself prompted the meeting, and readers should keep the outlets' framing distinct from what the two sides actually announced.