OpenAI ropes in Samsung and SK Hynix to supply memory chips for its massive “Stargate” AI project

OpenAI is pulling out all the stops to supercharge its computing capabilities as part of its global AI expansion.

The maker of ChatGPT announced on Wednesday that it has signed agreements with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — two of the world’s largest memory chip manufacturers — to produce DRAM wafers for its ambitious Stargate AI infrastructure project. The deal also includes plans to build new data centers in South Korea.

The agreements were signed following a high-level meeting in Seoul attended by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Samsung Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

Under the deal, Samsung and SK Hynix will ramp up production to deliver roughly 900,000 high-bandwidth DRAM chips per month, which will power Stargate and other AI data centers. SK Group noted separately that this output would double the current global manufacturing capacity for such advanced memory chips.

Stargate is a colossal joint infrastructure initiative led by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, aiming to spend up to $500 billion building a network of AI-dedicated data centers across the United States to support next-generation AI development.

Wednesday’s announcements follow a frenzy of investment activity in AI compute capacity — with OpenAI firmly at the center of it. Just weeks ago, Nvidia revealed plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, a move that will give the ChatGPT maker access to more than 10 gigawatts of computing power through Nvidia’s AI training systems. The very next day, OpenAI confirmed that it would partner with SoftBank and Oracle to construct five new data centers under the Stargate project, aiming to expand its total compute capacity to 7 gigawatts.

Earlier in September, Oracle agreed to sell $300 billion worth of computing resources to OpenAI over five years — further cementing the scale of the collaboration.

OpenAI also said it is working with South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT to explore locations for new data centers outside Seoul and has signed a separate agreement with SK Telecom to build one of these AI facilities. Additionally, the company has inked multiple deals with Samsung subsidiaries to identify and develop further data center opportunities in the country.

As part of the collaboration, Samsung and SK Group will integrate ChatGPT Enterprise and the OpenAI API into their own business operations, embedding OpenAI’s technology deeper into their corporate ecosystems.