south korea's semiconductor giants samsung electronics and sk hynix announced on wednesday that they have signed a basic agreement to supply high-performance memory chips for openai's stargate project to meet the needs of building the next-generation data center. this collaboration demonstrates the further integration of the global ai infrastructure supply chain and highlights the central position of south korean semiconductor companies in the high-end chip field.
according to reuters, openai ceo sam altman visited seoul on the same day and met with president lee jae-myung and the chairmen of the two companies. a photo of samsung electronics chairman lee jae-yong and ceo altman indicates that they have reached a preliminary agreement on technical cooperation. sk hynix's newly developed hbm4 memory chips, with their high bandwidth and low power consumption, meet the computing power requirements of ai and will become a major supply product.
openai's stargate project, a $50 billion (about 356.4 billion yuan) project, aims to build next-generation data centers across the united states. according to the plan, openai will partner with oracle to build three data centers in texas, new mexico, and undisclosed locations in the midwest. it will also partner with japan's softbank to build two new facilities in ohio and texas. this collaboration with south korean companies aims to address the shortage of memory chips caused by the rapid rise in ai computing capabilities.
analysts point out that this collaboration not only provides hardware support for openai's supercomputing project, but also has the potential to make hbm4 chips a new standard in the ai industry. as the global ai competition intensifies, the strategic value of the chip supply chain will further increase.
