2-hour, high-profile meeting covers extensive collaborations on AI investments, future strategies

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left), SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (Yonhap)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left), SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (Yonhap)

Three tech moguls -- Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son -- convened in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss extensive collaboration on AI investments and future strategies.

Their high-profile meeting, held at Samsung's office building in southern Seoul, was arranged upon Altman's visit to Seoul to attend OpenAI's technology forum with local developers.

Details of the meeting that lasted for about two hours were not revealed immediately, with Samsung remaining mum.

Industry sources say they are highly likely to have discussed Samsung's possible joining of the $500-billion Stargate project, a joint venture between OpenAI and SoftBank, among other things.

The Stargate project is a large-scale development of AI infrastructure on US soil, jointly announced by OpenAI, Softbank Group and Oracle the day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

Altman and Son may have asked Lee to invest in the Stargate project, as they are inviting global companies around to join the initiative.

Softbank is planning to invest over $15 billion directly in Stargate, as well as $15-25 billion in OpenAI.

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son leaves the headquarters of Samsung Group in Seoul Tussday after holding talks with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald)
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son leaves the headquarters of Samsung Group in Seoul Tussday after holding talks with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald)

Leaving the meeting venue later in the day, Son told reporters that he had "a very good discussion" to update on AI and mobile strategies without further elaborating.

"South Korea has great engineers, great technologies. I think Korea has a bright future. AI is becoming very important in every country now," Son said.

Asked if Korean firms like Samsung and SK are joining the Stargate project, Son said nothing has been decided, opening room for future discussions.

Some sources also speculated that the tech leaders could have discussed developing a new AI-specific device, which Altman hinted at last month, considering Samsung's expertise in both computing hardware and chips.

In a recent interview with Nikkei Asia, the OpenAI chief said that his company is planning to develop such AI-specific hardware and that they "hope to do it in partnership."

Samsung, the world's leading smartphone and semiconductor supplier, produces cutting-edge products deemed crucial in advanced AI applications and data centers, including High Bandwidth Memory, enterprise SSD chips and GDDR7.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu on Monday, to attend a sentencing hearing. (Yonhap)
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu on Monday, to attend a sentencing hearing. (Yonhap)

Given how building AI data centers is at the core of the Stargate project, and Samsung produces leading-edge chips for AI infrastructures, their collaboration is widely seen as a win-win here. As the memory chip giant also operates chip contract manufacturing business, OpenAI could also consider Samsung to produce its chips.

In Tuesday's meeting, ARM CEO Rene Haas and Samsung's chief executives including Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and head of the chip business, were also present. SoftBank holds a 90 percent share in ARM and is working together with the UK chip designer to develop AI chips.

Altman is officially visiting Korea for the third time, with his latest trip being in January 2024. At the time, he visited Samsung's production facility in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

For Lee, it is his first public activity after an appellate court cleared him of all charges related to a contentious merger between Samsung affiliates on Monday.