OpenAI Chases Samsung and SK Deals as Memory Chip Supply Sells Out

Samsung has sold out its high-bandwidth memory supply for 2027, and SK hynix says customers want more than double what it can deliver — the two numbers that framed Sam Altman's weekend visit to South Korea as OpenAI tries to lock in chips and cash for its AI build-out.

According to a report by The Korea Herald, OpenAI's infrastructure expansion faces twin pressures: tight memory chip supply and a fundraising shortfall. Altman met roughly 50 Samsung executives in Yongin on Saturday, then held talks with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and executives from SK hynix and SK Telecom. At Samsung, the discussions centred on using AI to sharpen business competitiveness.

No new agreements came out of the trip.

How tight is the memory market?

The supply picture is the hardest constraint. Samsung stated last week that its HBM output for 2027 is fully sold. SK hynix reports that production through 2029 is effectively accounted for, split between firm contracts and volumes still under customer negotiation.

Demand outruns capacity by a wide margin. "Customers are requesting more than twice the volume we can supply," Kim Ki-tae, SK hynix's head of HBM sales and marketing, said during an earnings call, as quoted by The Korea Herald.

The takeaway: OpenAI is negotiating for capacity that manufacturers have already promised, in whole or in part, through the end of the decade.

Where does OpenAI's funding stand?

The Korea Herald report puts OpenAI's secured commitments at around USD 11 billion against an initial fundraising target of USD 30 billion — a gap of roughly USD 19 billion. The outlet notes these figures have not been independently confirmed.

The financing uncertainty bears directly on OpenAI's planned AI data centre projects in South Korea. Samsung affiliates and SK Telecom agreed last year to explore joint developments, but investment budgets and construction schedules remain unsettled.

In short: the money to build the data centres is not yet in place.

What did the Stargate agreements cover?

OpenAI signed preliminary Stargate agreements with Samsung and SK in October 2025. Those documents outlined projected demand equivalent to 900,000 DRAM wafer starts per month, according to the Korea Herald.

The figure carries a caveat: it was a production target, not a binding order. Nothing in the preliminary terms obliges either Korean group to manufacture or ship at that scale.

That distinction now defines the negotiation. Since Altman's visit, neither side has confirmed any discussion of chip pricing or investment commitments. The report states plainly that the key challenge ahead is converting partnerships into firm supply contracts and funded projects.

For now, OpenAI holds letters of intent in a sold-out market, with under two-thirds of its original fundraising target still to raise.