Sam Altman Meets Samsung Executives Over AI Memory Needs

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with about 50 senior Samsung executives in South Korea as the company seeks to expand its artificial intelligence and memory capacity, Bloomberg reports. The meeting took place at Samsung’s Resources Development Center in Yongin on Saturday, October 30, and brought together chiefs from the company’s financial, electronics, and biotechnology businesses. Samsung said the discussion focused on strengthening existing relationships and future AI opportunities, rather than announcing a new memory supply agreement.

Meeting Details

Confirming the meeting, Samsung Korea said the discussion revolved around strengthening existing relationships between the two companies, particularly a letter of intent signed in October to cooperate on global AI infrastructure, including supplying memory semiconductors for OpenAI’s Stargate project. Samsung, however, emphasized AI transformation and future business opportunities more than a new memory supply agreement. Reportedly, Altman also presented Samsung’s AI Center head with a Codex Micro Keyboard, a device designed for use with OpenAI’s coding agent.

Memory Shortage Context

Altman’s visit follows his recent comments about how the world's limited memory supply should be allocated. In an interview on the Chick Pink podcast this week, the OpenAI chief argued that DRAM inside personal computers is often underused, describing it as ‘quite terrible’. He suggested that data centers could make more intensive use of memory by sharing computer resources across AI workloads. The argument drew widespread criticism given that OpenAI services such as ChatGPT rely heavily on centralized computing infrastructure. AMD forecasts DRAM revenue will jump 177% in 2026 to about $416 billion. Trendforce estimates DRAM supply will fall 1% to 2% short of demand this year, with the imbalance expected to worsen in 2027. Micron recently warned that new manufacturing capacity may take time, so the shortage could persist into 2028.

Industry Position

Demand for data centers faces major competition from PCs, smartphones, and other electronics for limited memory supplies, and may be nowhere close to peaking. High-bandwidth memory, a specialized form of DRAM used in AI devices, has become particularly important. Samsung and SK Hynix are among the world's leading memory manufacturers, giving South Korea a central role in supplying hardware behind the AI expansion. According to Counterpoint Research, both companies controlled about 63% of global DRAM revenues in the second quarter of 2026. Their influence is greater in HBM, where the two South Korean manufacturers accounted for roughly 83% of global revenue. AMD CEO Lisa Su visited earlier this month to discuss securing additional HBM supplies from Samsung, saying, ‘It is important to plan three to five years ahead with our partners.’ Samsung and SK Hynix have been upgrading Chinese factories to meet surging demand for AI-related memory and storage products, though those upgrades concern NAND flash production rather than DRAM.

Sources: Tom's Hardware