Chey Tae-won Meets OpenAI's Sam Altman in Seoul to Deepen AI Alliance

The recent meeting between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, joined by senior executives from SK hynix and SK Telecom, highlights an ongoing collaboration centered on crucial AI infrastructure. While the specific content of their discussions was not disclosed, industry watchers indicated talks likely focused on High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) supply and AI data center development. This aligns with a strategic partnership formed last October, which designated SK Group as a key partner in OpenAI's Stargate project, an initiative to build global AI infrastructure.

Under the earlier agreement, SK hynix outlined plans to develop production capacity for HBM supply requests, aiming for up to 900,000 DRAM wafers per month. Concurrently, SK Telecom committed to collaborating on an AI data center with OpenAI in South Korea's southwestern region. This facility was intended to serve as a base for identifying AI use cases for both corporate clients and consumers, while also jointly developing next-generation data center technology.

The continued high-level exchanges between Chey and Altman, including a prior meeting at an AI summit in July, suggest a sustained focus on their established cooperation. This recent luncheon appears to be a follow-up, reinforcing the companies' joint efforts to secure essential memory chips and develop the physical infrastructure necessary for large-scale AI operations. The private discussions likely indicate ongoing planning or progress related to these foundational elements of AI development.