SK Hynix and Samsung will provide memory chips for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate AI project

SK Hynix and Samsung intend to provide memory chips for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate project.

The two biggest chipmakers in South Korea, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, have inked agreements to provide memory chips for OpenAI’s enormous Stargate project, a $500 billion endeavor that aims to bolster American dominance in artificial intelligence worldwide.

The agreements came after a high-level meeting between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and the chairmen of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics in Seoul on Wednesday.

The Stargate project, which was unveiled by US President Donald Trump in January, is one of the biggest AI infrastructure projects ever. The strategy, supported by important partners like SoftBank and Oracle, is to speed up the deployment of cutting-edge AI data centers and increase chip availability globally. Nvidia promised to contribute up to $100 billion to the project last week, as well as supply chips for OpenAI.

In addition to working with Samsung and SK Hynix to build two new AI data centers in South Korea, each with an initial 20 megawatt capacity, OpenAI is planning to order 900,000 semiconductor wafers by 2029, according to Kim Yong-beom, the country’s senior presidential adviser. Additionally, he mentioned that Seoul is willing to contribute to the project’s funding if needed.

“Without memory chips from the two companies, a significant portion of the Stargate project would not be possible,” Kim stated during a press briefing, adding that the agreement puts South Korean companies at the forefront of the largest AI infrastructure build-out in history.

SK Hynix and Samsung jointly hold approximately 80% of the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market and nearly 70% of the DRAM industry worldwide. Chips are stacked vertically in HBM, which was originally launched in 2013, to save power and space while processing large amounts of data quickly. This is a crucial feature for sophisticated AI applications like ChatGPT.

Given these advantages, the South Korean semiconductor sector is well-positioned to support OpenAI’s worldwide AI goals as a vital partner.

The collaboration isn’t just about semiconductors. In addition to growing enterprise AI services, Samsung SDS, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has inked an agreement with OpenAI to design, construct, and run AI data centers under the Stargate project. To lower cooling expenses and carbon emissions, Samsung Heavy Industries and Samsung C&T will collaborate with OpenAI on floating offshore data centers.

OpenAI opened its first office in Seoul this year, further expanding its presence in South Korea. In terms of the number of paying ChatGPT members, the nation is currently ranked second only to the US, indicating the high demand for generative AI services.

The agreements give South Korean enterprises a significant foothold in the world’s largest AI build-out, securing critical supply chains for the Stargate project and enhancing their position in determining the next stage of the global technological race, the presidential office emphasized.