What we know so far: OpenAI is working more closely with Samsung on chip development while also deploying ChatGPT within the South Korean company, adding another major technology partner as it builds out its AI infrastructure. Harrison Kim, general manager of OpenAI Korea, pointed to the companies’ work on chip manufacturing and research as a key part of their expanding relationship.
“One of the areas where we have made the most progress and gained the most recognition with Samsung Electronics is our joint production and research on the next-generation chips we are developing,” Kim said at a press conference in Seoul. Kim did not provide details on the chips or explain Samsung’s role.
Samsung said it could not confirm information related to customers.
The work comes after OpenAI’s June announcement of Jalapeno, its first custom AI chip. OpenAI designed the chip with Broadcom for AI inference, and TSMC is set to manufacture it.
OpenAI’s interest in Samsung also reflects memory’s growing importance in AI systems. Large models need substantial memory capacity and bandwidth to run quickly, particularly in data centers serving large numbers of users. Kim said demand for advanced memory will continue to rise as AI computing becomes faster and more complex.
Samsung and SK Hynix signed letters of intent last year to supply memory chips for OpenAI’s Stargate data center project. Kim said working with South Korean semiconductor suppliers is a priority for OpenAI’s local office.
Samsung is also one of OpenAI’s biggest enterprise users. Kim said it was “one of the largest-scale deployments of ChatGPT globally,” with employees in Korea and other markets using the tool for research and development, marketing, and sales.
The company has been opening access to several generative AI products internally. In June, Samsung said employees in its Device eXperience division, which oversees phones, televisions, and home appliances, would be allowed to use ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude for work.
OpenAI said adoption among South Korean businesses has increased sharply. The number of ChatGPT Enterprise users at companies and institutions in the country was about 28 times higher at the end of August than a year earlier. It did not disclose the total number of users.
The company said businesses are increasingly using AI across departments, including legal, sales, finance, marketing, and operations, instead of limiting the technology to individual assignments.
South Korea had the highest number of paying ChatGPT subscribers outside the United States as of late last year, OpenAI said.
OpenAI expects product use to grow now that GPT-6 Astra has launched. The company said the model offers better performance in computer use, professional work, science, coding, and cybersecurity.
