OpenAI's Stargate project in Korea stuck at starting gate as Samsung, SK report little progress

OpenAI's Stargate project in Korea stuck at starting gate as Samsung, SK report little progress Nearly a year after Stargate Korea was announced, OpenAI, Samsung and SK have yet to settle sites, power supply or funding. LEE JAE-LIM LEE JAE-LIM BUSINESS REPORTER Published September 7, 2026 - 5:00 a.m. President Lee Jae Myung receives OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and exchanges views on the AI on Oct. 1, 2025. From left: Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Altman, President Lee, and SK Chairman Chey Tae-won. Altman visited SK and Samsung Electronics that day to discuss cooperation on the Stargate initiative. PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE Last October, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman brought plans for a Korean leg of Stargate — an AI infrastructure initiative spanning multiple countries — to Seoul, with the Korean government hailing the proposal as a major investment in the country's AI infrastructure. Nearly a year has passed since the announcement of the 'Stargate Korea' project — part of a broader OpenAI partnership with Samsung and SK announced last October — aimed at building two data centers, one led by Samsung SDS and one by SK Telecom, but little progress has been made on construction and the funding structure. The deadlock comes as Stargate projects in other countries face either downsizing or outright cancellation. Related Article AI utilization in Korea 1.7 times ahead of global average, report finds Google overtakes Naver in mobile app users in July for first time The letters of intent involved with the initiative were par t of an overarching deal formed between the three companies, in which Samsung Electronics and SK hynix would supply memory chips to power OpenAI's Stargate data centers. The program aims to build data centers across the globe to supply the computing power needed to train and operate OpenAI's artificial intelligence models. "Altman said he wants to return the benefits of this important partnership to Korea, which is why the companies are investing in AI data centers — one each in South Jeolla and in Pohang," said then-presidential chief of staff Kim Yong-beom after the meeting that took place between Altman and President Lee Jae Myung in a press briefing on Oct. 1, 2025. "He [Altman] framed the continued infrastructure investment as a way of returning part of the benefit Korea has given them." OpenAI's spokesperson declined to comment on the matter when asked about the form of investment, OpenAI's involvement and the progress of data centers to be built in Korea, saying only that the domestic project is "still under discussion." Samsung SDS, the information technology service arm of Samsung in charge of the data center build out with OpenAI, said that "nothing has been confirmed" related to the project and that the decision belongs to OpenAI. SK Telecom, the telecom operator of SK in charge of the data center business, said no progress has been made following October's memorandum of understanding and that OpenAI's demand has not been finalized. A source in the industry who requested anonymity said the companies are having trouble acquiring a site that can handle the vast amounts of power and water needed for the data centers. "Acquiring power and water supply are the two key conditions to be met for data centers that are being raised most often these days," the source said. "Those take up a huge amount of time, and it is understood that companies are still scouting for a proper site. There's nothing concrete with OpenAI — at most, each company is approaching the project on its own, independently of the other." The companies' claims are at odds with multiple domestic reports made last October following the initiative's announcement and Sam Altman's visit to Korea, which stated the companies are each building data centers with OpenAI — Samsung in the eastern city of Pohang and SK in the southwestern region. Planned capacity for each facility differed across reports, but initial capacity was allocated at 20 megawatts each. The companies' claims also contradict Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon's comment in February. "I understand it is currently underway," Bae said during a committee session when questioned about the status of the data center project, "with a targeted timeline for groundbreaking set in March." The U.S. AI company has not officially included Korea as part of its global Stargate project, instead using terms such as "explore" or "assess" to describe opportunities to expand data center capacity across the country with Samsung SDS and SK Telecom, according to its "AI in South Korea: OpenAI's Economic Blueprint" report published in October 2025. Content from OpenAI's October 2025 report that frames data center initiatives in Korea as tentative OPENAI Domestic reports, however, have largely framed it as the Stargate Korea project, while SK stated that it will work with OpenAI to jointly build "an OpenAI-dedicated AI data center in the southwestern region of Korea, realizing Stargate Korea." The overall status of the projects is murky at best, and Korea's sluggish progress is on par with the rest of the Stargate programs globally. Initially announced as a $500 billion U.S. national project to supply 10 gigawatts of capacity by 2029, the company has branched the concept out globally to the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Britain, Argentina and India — all within the last year. However, data centers in Norway and Britain were paused earlier this year. OpenAI is said to have cited energy prices and regulatory concerns as conditions that make the sites unfavorable for AI training. For Norway, OpenAI and Nscale failed to finalize terms on an offtake deal, and the project was taken over by Microsoft. Expansion of AI infrastructure has been driven by competition among U.S. hyperscalers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta, and OpenAI is no exception. Acquiring the computing capacity needed for AI training has become the top priority for many such companies. However, OpenAI's ambitious pace is being questioned, with doubts piling up over whether the company can afford such rapid build out. The term "Stargate" is said to have lost its meaning internally after being popularized by OpenAI's policy and public relations teams as a catchall for infrastructure build out, according to the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Korea is planning to spend more than 1 quadrillion won ( $739.67 billion) on AI data center expansion, with a target capacity of 18.4 gigawatts by 2035, pushing the infrastructure away from the greater capital region. SK, GS and Naver will lead the project, part of three so-called megaprojects related to AI proposed by the Lee Jae Myung administration as a national growth strategy. BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr] ai business data center openai industry samsung sk