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HomeGADGETSELECTRONICSCreator of ChatGPT visits Samsung Electronics' chip factory

Creator of ChatGPT visits Samsung Electronics’ chip factory

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco in this November 2023 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, visited a Samsung Electronics semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Friday, to discuss the joint development of chips for artificial intelligence (AI), according to industry officials.

The American entrepreneur reportedly met with Kyung Kye-hyun, president of Samsung’s semiconductor unit, and a group of other ranking executives in charge of the memory chip and foundry operations, who guided the OpenAI CEO around the factory. It is unusual for the Korean company to show its semiconductor production lines to an outsider.

Altman was expected to hold a meeting with Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong. But an impending court ruling on Lee’s conspiracy allegations related to the controversial 2015 merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries is reported to have created challenges for them to meet on this occasion.

A semiconductor factory of Samsung Electronics in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

A few hours after his visit to the Samsung factory, Altman reportedly had a separate meeting with SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung. It remains unclear if their meeting was held at SK’s semiconductor plant in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Sources familiar with this issue said that the AI mogul was also scheduled to meet with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won before leaving Korea on Friday evening.

Both Samsung and SK declined to confirm whether their executives met Altman.

The OpenAI CEO, who previously visited Korea last June, came here again on Thursday afternoon for a 19-hour stay. He was initially expected to stay in Korea for only around six hours.

His decision to stay in Korea longer is perceived as an indication of his intention to thoroughly examine the technologies of the two Korean chipmakers. This move comes in the midst of ongoing efforts by OpenAI to lower its dependence on Nvidia, the largest player in the global AI chip market.

Given that OpenAI needs a massive amount of high-priced AI chips to upgrade its large language models (LLM) which power ChatGPT, industry officials said that Samsung and SK have competed fiercely behind the scenes to join hands with the U.S. firm.

Last year, SK outpaced Samsung in global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip market share. HBM chips are considered to be crucial for the operation of AI servers. Samsung has therefore sought to convince global customers that it is engaged in both the memory chip and foundry businesses.

There remains a possibility of OpenAI eventually cooperating with Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest foundry. Before Altman’s visit to Korea, foreign news outlets reported that he is in discussions with Middle Eastern investors and chip fabricators including TSMC about launching a new chip venture.

 

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