OpenAI’s Stargate Project Moves Ahead With Samsung and SK in South Korea

OpenAI's ambitious Stargate Project is advancing steadily in South Korea, with major technology players Samsung and SK Group joining hands to build the future of artificial intelligence infrastructure, as per a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business News Korea.

The report stated that OpenAI Inc. announced on Thursday that it is working with South Korea's Samsung and SK Groups under its Stargate initiative, which aims to create next-generation infrastructure for AI, including large-scale data centres. The initiative is part of a broader public-private partnership led by OpenAI, Oracle Corp., SoftBank Group, and others.

Kim Kyoung-hoon, general manager of OpenAI Korea, said that the company is running two Stargate projects in the country. He said the Stargate headquarters team had visited Seoul this week and met with the partners, Samsung and SK. However, he did not share any financial details or investment figures.

A key goal of the Stargate Project is to develop data centres capable of handling vast AI workloads. One of its major plans involves a potential investment of up to USD 500 billion over four years to build a 10-gigawatt data centre in the United States. Similar projects are expected in other regions, including South Korea, where Samsung and SK have been chosen as leading partners.

The collaboration follows a visit to Korea by OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman in October. During the visit, Altman met Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee and signed a letter of intent for cooperation on building global AI infrastructure. Under the agreement, Samsung Electronics will supply the memory chips required for the Stargate Project, while Samsung SDS will handle the design, construction, and operation of the data centres.

Kim noted that Samsung SDS would become the first official channel partner for the project, with the final contract expected to be announced later this month.

For SK Group, SK hynix Inc. has signed a letter of intent to supply high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to OpenAI. In addition, SK Telecom Co. plans to build a dedicated OpenAI data centre in the southwest region of Korea. Kim explained that time is the most crucial factor in the construction process and that discussions are underway to shorten the timeline and identify the best site for the facility.

"Kim added that more than 1 million businesses worldwide are adopting OpenAI technology and transitioning to AI, emphasising that it will do its utmost not only for companies but also for Korea's nationwide AI transformation," the report said.

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