OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently spent time in a room with around 50 of Samsung's most senior executives, including the head of its chip business, at Samsung's Human Resources Development Center in Yongin, just south of Seoul. Officially framed as a seminar on how AI will reshape management, Wall Street and industry observers viewed the visit as an effort to deepen cooperation on memory chips and AI infrastructure amid intensifying global shortages. Altman was joined by four OpenAI executives, including hardware vice president Richard Ho, while Samsung participants included Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who leads the Device Solutions chip division, and Song Yong-ho, head of that division's AI Center.
Key takeaways
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with top executives from Samsung and SK Group during a trip to South Korea.
- Samsung stated its 2027 high-bandwidth memory is completely sold out, while SK hynix output is booked through 2029.
- Microsoft and OpenAI have both reported that market demand for AI infrastructure is heavily outrunning current supply capacity.
- Neither Samsung nor SK Group announced any new memory supply agreements following the high-profile executive meetings.
Inside the high-level meetings in Seoul
The gathering at Samsung took place under the theme "The Next 10 Years Shaped by AI: The Enterprise's Choice" and marked the second intensive AI training program Samsung has held for its top leadership in 2026. Executives from Samsung's electronics, finance, and biotechnology affiliates participated in generative AI training before Altman and his team arrived. Samsung stated that the two sides discussed the direction of AI technology development and its potential applications, but neither company announced a new memory supply agreement. Altman also delivered a message centered on practical deployment, stating that securing a sustainable competitive advantage is difficult simply by adopting AI. He handed out OpenAI's $230 Codex Micro, a 13-key keypad built with Work Louder, to attendees including Song Yong-ho.
Following the session at Samsung, Altman had lunch in Seoul with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won alongside senior executives from SK hynix and SK Telecom before departing the country that afternoon. Details of the discussions with SK Group were not publicly disclosed. The back-to-back meetings with South Korea's two dominant memory manufacturers occurred just days after Altman criticized the global allocation of memory supply on a podcast, describing the current environment as heavily supply-constrained and complaining that personal computers hold too much DRAM.
The broader hardware squeeze
Global memory suppliers are facing unprecedented demand that far outstrips current production volumes. Samsung announced that its high-bandwidth memory for 2027 is entirely sold out, and SK hynix reported that its DRAM and high-bandwidth memory output is booked through 2029. According to SK hynix sales and marketing leadership, customers have requested more than twice the volume the company is capable of supplying. Market data from TrendForce indicates that Samsung and SK hynix control roughly 64 percent of second-quarter DRAM revenue, with an even higher market share concentrated in AI-specific high-bandwidth memory.
Downstream infrastructure providers are feeling the same pressure. Microsoft reported that demand for its AI infrastructure is outpacing available capacity, with roughly three-quarters of its quarterly capital expenditures going to short-lived assets like CPUs and GPUs, heavily inflated by rising storage and memory costs. OpenAI previously paused sign-ups for its expensive ChatGPT Pro tier after demand for its Astra model outstripped capacity, while xAI adjusted usage limits due to high service costs. With major memory producers requiring advance payments, price floors, and multi-year agreements, Altman's push for hardware remains constrained by a sellers' market.
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