Lee Jae-yong, Sam Altman to meet at OpenAI HQ — could a foundry alliance be next?

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are set to meet at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters to discuss cooperation on AI infrastructure and Samsung's AI transformation.

OpenAI said the two executives will hold a meeting Saturday morning local time in San Francisco alongside senior officials from both companies.

The talks are expected to cover not only HBM and DRAM but also foundry services, as well as AI infrastructure and Samsung's broader AI transition.

Samsung Electronics is one of OpenAI's largest global enterprise customers and has committed to deploying ChatGPT and the AI coding tool Codex across its entire workforce.

The meeting is expected to explore ways to link Samsung's memory chip and foundry capabilities with the large-scale AI infrastructure projects OpenAI is pursuing.

However, specific details on chip supply volumes, investment scale and contract timelines have not yet been disclosed.

Samsung Electronics and OpenAI have been building a close partnership. In October last year, Altman visited South Korea and signed a letter of intent with Samsung Group to cooperate on the Stargate Project, a massive AI infrastructure initiative.

The project spans the entire Samsung group: Samsung Electronics handles memory chips, Samsung SDS covers AI data center design and operations, and Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries jointly develop floating data centers.

Altman had been scheduled to visit Samsung Electronics in June to deliver a lecture on AI transformation to employees and to meet with executives from major Korean tech companies including Kakao and Naver, but he postponed his Asia tour, including the South Korea leg, citing personal reasons.

On Friday (local time), ahead of the AI Summit, Altman also met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and senior executives from both companies to discuss HBM, DRAM and other AI infrastructure topics, as well as SK Group's AI transformation.

OpenAI regards the strategic partnership it has built with the South Korean government, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as the first national-level strategic partnership it has announced in the Asia-Pacific region.

Before the AI Summit, Altman also shared his views on wealth distribution in the AI era during a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung.

Altman reportedly said an equity-based model — in which citizens share in corporate gains — could be more desirable than simple cash transfers in the AI age.

He also reportedly praised the government's three major mega-projects, which include the creation of a new semiconductor cluster in the Honam region, calling them "a globally exemplary case." He expressed hope that South Korea could serve as a test bed for a next-generation AI device set to launch in the first quarter of next year, signaling his intent to expand cooperation.