Against DeepSeek, Korea, US, and Japan Unite… Kickstarting AI Semiconductor Development Cooperation
- The three-party meeting of Samsung, OpenAI, and SoftBank was promoted to explore AI semiconductor cooperation measures and invest in a 500 billion dollar US AI infrastructure project.
- Samsung Electronics is participating in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) and foundry business necessary for AI accelerators, and OpenAI may cooperate with Samsung to develop its own AI accelerators.
- If this alliance is realized, it is evaluated that it has a high possibility of emerging as a superpower in the AI semiconductor industry that can counter NVIDIA.
- The article was summarized using an artificial intelligence-based language model.
- Due to the nature of the technology, key content in the text may be excluded or different from the facts.
'AI Triangular Alliance'… Meeting of Lee Jae-yong, Masayoshi Son, and Sam Altman
Samsung Custom-Making from 'HBM4'
720 Trillion Won AI Infrastructure Project
Discussion on 'One Team' Participation with OpenAI and ARM
SK Also Proposed for AI Cooperation and Investment
Altman: "Korea is a Great Partner"
Possibility of Developing 'AI Terminals' with Samsung
A collaboration structure where OpenAI develops an AI accelerator (a semiconductor package for data learning and inference) based on the design blueprint drawn by ARM under SoftBank Group, and Samsung Electronics takes charge of product production. The 'triangular alliance' scenario, which semiconductor industry workers might have imagined at least once, has become a possibility. This is because Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Masayoshi Son, Chairman of SoftBank, put the AI infrastructure investment project 'Stargate' on the table during a three-party meeting that was suddenly arranged on the 4th to explore cooperation measures.
Samsung Eyes Custom HBM4
According to the industry on the 4th, Chairman Lee, CEO Altman, and Chairman Son are known to have focused their discussions on AI semiconductor cooperation measures during the meeting. Stargate is an AI infrastructure construction project in the US, promoted together with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, with an investment scale reaching 500 billion dollars (about 720 trillion won).
Samsung Electronics is engaged in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) and cutting-edge foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) business, which are considered key infrastructures for AI accelerators. OpenAI is developing AI chips based on the basic design drawn by ARM. Since both companies do not have semiconductor manufacturing plants, they have to entrust production to foundry companies. As TSMC, the number one in the foundry industry, is also busy producing NVIDIA chips, there is talk that OpenAI might consider Samsung Electronics, the second in the industry, as an alternative.
Samsung Electronics plans to start full-scale 'custom production' for each customer from the 6th generation HBM, HBM4, which is scheduled for mass production at the end of the year. For OpenAI, which is developing AI accelerators specialized in its own services rather than the general-purpose NVIDIA AI accelerators, this is attractive news. The fact that Jeon Young-hyun, head of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division, and Rene Haas, CEO of ARM, participated in the meeting is also interpreted as an attempt to find specific cooperation measures.
Emerging as a Rival to 'Team NVIDIA'
If the three-party alliance mediated by foundry and HBM is realized, it is highly likely to become a superpower in the AI semiconductor industry comparable to the NVIDIA, TSMC, and SK Hynix alliance, known as 'Team NVIDIA'. The industry evaluates that the possibility is sufficient. This is because Samsung Electronics, OpenAI, and ARM all have a great need to escape the influence of NVIDIA, which dominates the AI semiconductor industry.
SK Group is also eyeing this alliance. Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is exploring cooperation measures by meeting with AI semiconductor giants, with SK Hynix, the world's number one in the HBM market as of last year (53% market share), at the forefront. This is why Chairman Chey visited the OpenAI event with Kwak No-jung, CEO of SK Hynix, to meet CEO Altman on this day.
Accelerating Korea-US-Japan Alliance to Contain China
There is also a possibility that AI semiconductor cooperation among companies from the three countries will expand into an 'AI alliance'. DeepSeek recently unveiled a cost-effective AI service, raising concerns among Korea, the US, and Japan about the rise of the Chinese AI industry. It is reported that Chairman Son and CEO Altman recommended Chairman Lee to invest in the Stargate project on this day. It is interpreted that Chairman Son hurriedly boarded a flight to Korea from Japan in the morning to recommend investment to Samsung along with semiconductor cooperation.
It is also known that a similar proposal was made to SK Group. Since Stargate is a project that Donald Trump, the President of the United States, shows great interest in, it is evaluated that Samsung and SK do not necessarily need to refuse.
However, CEO Altman showed a cautious response regarding the 'AI terminal' plan disclosed in an interview with Nihon Keizai Shimbun the previous day. When asked by reporters if there are plans to develop AI terminals with Samsung, he replied, "Not yet."
Hwang Jung-soo/Kim Hyung-kyu, reporters hjs@hankyung.com

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