Which Korean Company Is on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Radar for AI Chip Production?

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has shown interest in partnering with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. This strategy is believed to aim to reduce reliance on Nvidia.

Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, based in San Francisco, USA, has expressed his willingness to cooperate with Korean companies. He visited Korea last January and met with top Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix executives.

On the 14th local time, at the ‘K-Startup·Open AI Matching Day’ co-hosted by Open AI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Open AI CEO Sam Altman shared updates on collecting ideas for the next-generation large language model (LLM) ChatGPT-5 and general artificial intelligence (AGI) with human-level cognition.

Altman indicated a preference for external collaboration over in-house semiconductor design and production.

At the event held that day, CEO Altman announced that AGI development is a goal of his company and himself.

AGI, capable of reasoning and creative tasks across all domains like a human, is considered a futuristic AI and a dream for many AI developers and tech companies. However, it is associated with significant safety concerns. There are predictions that AGI could surpass human capabilities and become uncontrollable.

Altman, a representative AI revivalist, is reported to have emphasized the necessity and usefulness of AGI, saying that he has no perspective other than “using AI to the maximum extent possible.”

When asked how AGI would be built, Altman replied, “We could quickly create something ourselves, collaborate with partners, or build something completely different from what we have now”.

He clarified his intention to proceed with the development without distinguishing the means and methods, not limited to the company Open AI, for developing AIG.

“Accelerating the advancement of science can be said to be the only and true driving force for economic growth, and it will give us more,” he said, revealing his expectations.

Altman announced a focus on minimizing secondary activities to concentrate on AGI construction. Decisions on semiconductor development will be made from the same perspective. Altman has been pursuing a project to finance AI semiconductor production in the Middle East and Japan since last year.

Open AI jumped into semiconductor production itself to save the funds and manpower used to procure AI semiconductors, which are in short supply, and invest in AGI development.

It is speculated that Open AI’s plan to build an in-house AI semiconductor production network is to reduce dependence on Nvidia.

Source: News 1

During his visit to Korea, Altman is known to have met with Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, respectively. Discussions about AI semiconductors seemed to be held during the meeting.

Source: News 1

He declared that there are no limits to GPT technology and that the next model will introduce advanced inference capabilities.

This means implementing the inference that all AI models developed so far have failed to achieve. If inference becomes possible, AI itself will weigh right and wrong, and after judging the situation, it will derive a conclusion on its own.

Source: News1

He also predicted that AI’s learning speed will surpass humans’, and human-created data will not be able to keep up with AI.

He said, “We may reach a data barrier someday. We may or may not be able to break through it.” He also said, “It is clear that in the long run, humans generate too little data. We need a model that can learn more with less data.”

Meanwhile, OpenAI, under CEO Sam Altman, has selected 14 promising Korean startups to participate in a global collaboration program. These companies presented before OpenAI’s executives, with Marina Chain, Waddle, and Clyant receiving the Potential Award.