Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee Meets OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at San Francisco Headquarters

Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee met OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman at the company’s San Francisco headquarters to discuss cooperation in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

OpenAI said on July 26 that Lee and Altman met at its San Francisco headquarters on the morning of July 25. The company did not disclose the agenda or details of the talks. The discussions likely covered expanding cooperation in AI infrastructure, including high-bandwidth memory, DRAM and advanced foundry services.

The meeting may also have included Samsung’s plans for an AI transformation across its operations using generative AI. Samsung is one of OpenAI’s largest global corporate customers and is expanding internal AI use, including plans to roll out ChatGPT and the AI coding tool Codex to all employees.

Samsung Electronics and OpenAI formed a strategic partnership in October 2025 and have been working together to expand production of advanced memory semiconductors and build next-generation AI infrastructure. OpenAI views its cooperation framework with the South Korean government, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as its first country-level strategic partnership announced in the Asia-Pacific region.

Before meeting Lee, Altman met President Lee Jae-myung on July 24 and also attended the San Francisco AI Summit.

Park Su-rim, Hankyung.com reporter paksr365@hankyung.com