Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is visiting Korea and will meet in succession with the management of Samsung Electronics, Naver, and Kakao. Following Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who visited Korea from the 5th to the 8th, another global heavyweight in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is coming to Korea within a week. Industry observers say this underscores Korea’s status as a core player in the AI semiconductor supply chain and expect wide-ranging discussions on cooperation that spans both software and hardware.

● Kakao–Samsung–Naver, an intensive “one-night, two-day” schedule

According to the information technology (IT) industry on the 11th, CEO Altman will arrive in Korea on the evening of the 14th and depart on the evening of the 15th, following a one-night, two-day itinerary. On the 15th at 9 a.m., he will meet with Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a at Kakao Pangyo Agit in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and then visit Samsung Electronics and Naver in turn.

He is expected to discuss expanding the cooperation that has continued with Kakao since last year. In February last year, Kakao became the first Korean company to sign a strategic partnership with OpenAI, and in October it launched “ChatGPT for Kakao,” which allows users to access ChatGPT directly from the KakaoTalk chat tab. Agenda items are expected to include the introduction of a KakaoTalk-tailored AI assistant linked to OpenAI’s latest models.

Altman will then head to Samsung Electronics’ Suwon campus, where from 10 a.m. he will speak at the “DX Insight Talk” for employees, discussing future changes and workplace innovation driven by AI. His visit comes just after Samsung Electronics on the 12th fully opened three external generative AI services, including ChatGPT, to its employees and declared an “AI Transformation (AX).” After the lecture, he will hold a separate meeting with management, including Roh Tae-moon, head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division (President), to discuss cooperation on “on-device AI,” embedding AI in devices such as smartphones and PCs. There is also speculation about a possible meeting with Jeon Young-hyun, head of the Device Solutions (DS) Division (Vice Chairman), who oversees semiconductors, but a reunion with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is on an overseas business trip, is reported to be uncertain.

The final stop will be Naver 1784 in Seongnam. Altman is expected to explore a first partnership with Naver, which operates its own cloud and data centers, in a meeting with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon. As OpenAI has been pushing to build a domestic data center as part of its “Stargate” AI infrastructure project, observers note that infrastructure cooperation could be on the agenda.

● AI heavyweights line up to visit Korea

Beyond CEO Altman, heads of global big tech firms have been visiting Korea one after another this year. In March, AMD CEO Lisa Su visited Korea for the first time since taking office and met with Chairman Lee and CEO Choi, and in April Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon held successive meetings with the management of Samsung Electronics’ foundry business and SK hynix. This month, CEO Huang visited Korea, strengthened personal ties with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Naver Board Chairman Lee Hae-jin over a “samgyeopsal meeting,” and then visited SK, LG, Hyundai Motor, and Naver in sequence.

Their successive trips to Korea are closely related to the structure of the Korean economy. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix lead the memory semiconductors that underpin AI infrastructure, while Naver and Kakao operate their own AI models and platforms, and Hyundai Motor is a major player in manufacturing and robotics. All of these are concentrated in a single market, making Korea a stage where the entire AI industry value chain can be tested at once. OpenAI has already signed letters of intent (LOIs) for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to supply memory for its KRW 5000 billion (approximately KRW 764.5 trillion) Stargate project and earlier this year also announced plans to break ground on a domestic data center.

Choi Byung-ho, research professor at the Human-Inspired AI Research Center at Korea University, said, “Their successive visits to Korea are the result of the alignment between big tech’s strategy to capitalize on the strengths and customer base of manufacturing powerhouse Korea and Korea’s own interests,” adding, “For Korea, this is also a crucial time to build a stable semiconductor supply pipeline while seeking cooperation in areas such as model development, where it still has shortcomings.”

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