On October 1, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT announced that OpenAI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korean government to advance cooperation in artificial intelligence, including plans to make Korea a top-three global AI hub and a leading center in the Asia-Pacific region.

As part of the agreement, South Korea's chipmaking giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have entered into preliminary supply deals with OpenAI to provide up to 900,000 DRAM wafers per month for its massive Stargate AI data center project, jointly backed by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle with a budget of up to $500 billion. Analysts say the volume represents nearly 40% of global DRAM output, underscoring the scale of the initiative.

Samsung Expands AI Memory and Infrastructure Role

Samsung Electronics will serve as a strategic memory partner, supplying advanced DRAM and HBM solutions to OpenAI. The company highlighted its ability to support the full AI workflow—from training to inference—through its semiconductor portfolio spanning memory, logic, and foundry. Samsung SDS will collaborate with OpenAI on designing and operating next-generation AI data centers in Korea, while Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries will work on floating offshore data center concepts aimed at reducing cooling costs and carbon emissions.

SK Group Joins as Strategic Partner

SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory maker, will contribute high-bandwidth memory (HBM) solutions critical for AI accelerators. SK Telecom will also partner with OpenAI to build a dedicated AI data center in Korea's southwest region, branded as "Stargate Korea," further embedding the country in the global AI infrastructure buildout.

Government and Industry Backing

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in Seoul to mark the partnership. Officials said the cooperation would give domestic chipmakers an early foothold in the world's largest AI infrastructure project, creating new growth opportunities for Korea's semiconductor sector.

Together, Samsung and SK Hynix control about 70% of the global DRAM market and nearly 80% of the HBM market. Following the announcement, Samsung's shares rose 3.5% to their highest level since January 2021, while SK Hynix surged nearly 10% to a two-decade high.

Industry analysts estimate the memory portion of OpenAI's demand could be worth over ₩100 trillion ($70 billion), though the final figure will depend on future memory market cycles.