THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • On October 31, 2026, Sam Altman spoke with about 50 presidents from Samsung's electronics, finance and biotech affiliates at a training centre in Yongin.
  • The session focused on how AI will reshape business over the next decade; neither side disclosed a new memory deal, volumes or prices.
  • Samsung already supplies memory for OpenAI's Stargate project under a letter of intent signed in October 2025.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman met roughly 50 senior Samsung leaders in South Korea on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at a time when memory chips used in AI data centres are in short supply. According to The Next Web and ShiftDelete.Net, the session took place at Samsung's human resources development centre in Yongin, south of Seoul, and brought together presidents from the group's electronics, finance and biotechnology affiliates.

What was discussed

Samsung presented the meeting as part of an executive training programme on AI. ShiftDelete.Net reports that it was titled around the next ten years shaped by AI and the choices companies face, covering where the technology is heading, the markets it may open and how it could change decision-making inside large organisations. The Next Web notes that the group's statement did not publish Altman's remarks or list the attendees, and that the presidents had taken a hands-on generative AI course beforehand, their second since June. TokenPost describes the visit as a discussion of wider cooperation on memory chips and AI infrastructure, but no volumes, prices or contracts were disclosed by either company.

The memory backdrop

The visit comes as data-centre operators compete for DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, pushing prices up. TokenPost cites estimates that memory accounts for about a third of data-centre spending. Two days before the trip, Altman told the Cheeky Pint podcast that keeping scarce DRAM in personal computers, where he said it is used only about 5% of the time, was a poor use of supply, and that memory makers remained wary of overbuilding, The Next Web reports. The same outlet notes that SK hynix expects shortages to persist until 2030.

An existing partnership

Samsung and OpenAI signed a letter of intent on AI infrastructure in October 2025, under which Samsung supplies memory for the Stargate data-centre project. Other affiliates are involved too: Samsung SDS works with OpenAI on data centres and enterprise services, while Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries are developing floating data centres. Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong visited OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters in July 2026, according to ShiftDelete.Net.

Citing Yonhap, ShiftDelete.Net adds that SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won also met Altman in Seoul with SK hynix and SK Telecom executives, though no details were made public. For now, the meetings signal relationship-building rather than a concrete new supply commitment.