Samsung and SK, Korea’s Top Two Conglomerates, Become Twin Engines of Global AI Big Three... Korea-US AI Alliance Formed

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will supply up to 900,000 wafers per month of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and other semiconductors to the US Stargate Project. This is twice the current global HBM production capacity. In addition, Samsung and SK Group, together with OpenAI, which leads the Stargate Project, will each build large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) data centers both overseas and domestically. Effectively, this marks the formation of a 'Korea-US AI Economic Alliance.' As Korea’s top two conglomerates, Samsung and SK are expected to serve as twin engines in realizing 'Korea’s Global AI Big Three' ambitions."Korean HBM Semiconductors: Double the Current Production Capacity Needed"On the 1st, Samsung, SK Group, and OpenAI held a series of trilateral meetings ahead of their meeting with President Lee Jae Myung, agreeing to participate as suppliers of HBM and other memory semiconductors for the US Stargate Project, and to cooperate in building advanced AI data centers. Stargate is a massive US AI data center construction initiative, with $500 billion to be invested over four years from 2025 to 2029. The project is led by OpenAI, US software and cloud company Oracle, and Japanese investment firm SoftBank Group.

On this day, Samsung and SK each signed strategic partnerships and agreements with OpenAI regarding participation in the Stargate Project at their respective headquarters, Seocho and Seorin. Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, personally attended the signing ceremony for the memory supply LOI and the Southwest AI Data Center. Samsung was represented by Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun of Samsung Electronics, Vice Chairman Choi Sung-an of Samsung Heavy Industries, President Oh Se-chul of Samsung C&T, and President Lee Joon-hee of Samsung SDS.
OpenAI has indicated that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will need to supply 900,000 wafers of HBM semiconductors per month (10.8 million wafers annually) for the Stargate Project. This is about twice the monthly supply of DRAM, including HBM, from SK hynix—the current market leader in HBM—estimated at 400,000 wafers per month by market research firm Omdia. This underscores the solidifying market positions of SK hynix and Samsung Electronics in the global HBM semiconductor market.
Samsung and SK: Twin Engines Driving the Great AI TransformationThe construction of data centers is also a key focus. Samsung, through collaboration among four affiliates—Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDS, Samsung C&T, and Samsung Heavy Industries—plans to pursue a Floating Data Center for Stargate AI. Floating Data Centers are highly complex, with commercialization research underway in only a few countries. Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries explained that, based on their expertise in offshore oil facility construction, they are capable of independently building AI data centers at sea. While the exact location of the offshore data center has not been disclosed, it is expected to be overseas rather than domestic.


With this collaboration, SK Group will build its second domestic AI data center in the southwest region with OpenAI, following its June agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to construct Korea’s first large-scale AI data center (in Ulsan, Southeast region) worth a total of 7 trillion won. The group aims to lead the domestic and Northeast Asian AI data center markets.
At the meeting with President Lee Jae Myung held at the Presidential Office in Yongsan in the afternoon, Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, stated, “Under the government’s vision to become one of the world’s top three AI powerhouses by 2030, public and private sectors have worked together to lay a solid foundation for Korea’s AI infrastructure in a short period.” He added, “We will take the lead not only in semiconductor supply but also in fostering the AI ecosystem.” Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, also remarked, “SK will continue to strive to do all it can to help Korea become a global AI powerhouse.” He further explained, “CEO Altman has presented SK with a grand vision and request regarding AI semiconductors, especially memory semiconductors. In a sense, it is as if a single company is being asked to handle half of the world’s memory chip supply, and this meeting was an important step for Korean memory companies to collaborate to meet that demand.” Chey indicated that SK aims to achieve its fourth quantum leap through AI. Lee Jae-yong is also expected to pursue a super-gap strategy in the AI and AI semiconductor markets.
Analysts note that this partnership is based on close cooperation among the top leaders. Earlier this year, Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, held his first public meeting with Masayoshi Son, Chairman of SoftBank Group, and CEO Altman to discuss participation in Stargate. Since 2023, Chey Tae-won has met with CEO Altman several times in Seoul and the US to explore AI collaboration.

ehcho@fnnews.com Jo Eun-hyo Reporter