OpenAI and Samsung deepen cooperation on next-generation chips

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OpenAI expands Samsung ties

Highlights

OpenAI and Samsung are working on next-generation chips.
Their relationship also covers memory and enterprise AI.
OpenAI is building more of its own computing stack.

OpenAI Korea General Manager Harrison Kim said Wednesday that the companies have made progress in joint production and research related to chips under development, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. He did not provide technical details about Samsung's role, while Samsung said it could not confirm customer-related information.

OpenAI builds out its chip strategy

The Samsung work comes as OpenAI moves beyond relying entirely on off-the-shelf processors. In June, the company unveiled Jalapeño, its first custom AI accelerator, developed with Broadcom and designed specifically for inference, the computing process used when AI models respond to requests.

OpenAI designed the processor around the requirements of large language models, while Broadcom provided silicon implementation and networking expertise. The companies plan to deploy the technology at gigawatt scale across multiple generations of computing infrastructure.

TSMC has been identified as a manufacturing partner for OpenAI chips. Samsung's precise role in the next generation remains unclear, but the relationship already extends into memory: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix signed letters of intent last year to supply memory chips for OpenAI's Stargate datacenter project.

South Korea becomes a larger part of OpenAI expansion

The partnership runs in both directions. Samsung has become a major corporate user of ChatGPT, with employees in South Korea and overseas using the technology across research and development, marketing, and sales.

Samsung has also widened internal access to generative AI. Employees in its Device eXperience division, which includes smartphones, televisions, and home appliances, were cleared in June to use ChatGPT alongside Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude.

Demand is rising beyond Samsung. OpenAI said ChatGPT Enterprise users at South Korean companies and institutions increased roughly 28-fold in the year through the end of August, though it did not disclose absolute numbers.

Chip cooperation raises the strategic stakes

Closer ties with Samsung could give OpenAI another important connection to the semiconductor supply chain as increasingly capable AI systems demand more computing power and memory. South Korea is particularly important because Samsung and SK Hynix are major suppliers of advanced memory used in AI infrastructure.

For Samsung, the relationship extends from supplying critical semiconductor technology to deploying OpenAI software internally. For OpenAI, combining custom processors, advanced memory, and large-scale enterprise adoption could help it exercise greater control over the infrastructure needed to operate increasingly demanding AI models.

We also reported OpenAI to deploy Jalapeño in compute infrastructure before year end as multigenerational roadmap advances.

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