[News Today] SAMSUNG, OPEN AI, SOFTBANK MEETING

[LEAD]
Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, met with top business leaders in South Korea. A standout event was his meeting with Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son. This key gathering signals a strategic alliance, aiming to secure a lead in AI amidst China's rapid progress like Deepseek.

[REPORT]
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son have visited Korea to meet with Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong.

The Softbank Group chief flew to Korea from Japan on Tuesday morning for a surprise meeting that lasted over an hour. The three discussed Samsung's investment in the Stargate project.

The details of the investment plan have yet to be announced.

Masayoshi Son / Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group
We will discuss. We had a very good discussion.

The meeting has been lauded for laying the groundworks for a trilateral AI alliance among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to secure leadership in the global AI market.

It was Lee Jae-yong's first public event since he was acquitted in an appellate trial on Monday, leading many to speculate that Samsung's Stargate investment is imminent.

Following the OpenAI and SoftBank Group chiefs' visits to Korea, domestic businesses will likely step up investments.

Sam Altman / Founder and CEO, OpenAI
I don't want to pre-announce anything but you could probably guess what some of the most important partnerships are there.

Prior to the three-way meeting, Sam Altman introduced OpenAI's latest technology and said his company will jointly develop products for Korean users with Kakao.

Chung Shin-a/ CEO, Kakao
The meaning of the partnership to jointly develop products.

Sam Altman / Founder and CEO, OpenAI
Our mission is to maximize the benefits of AGI for everybody. So we'd love to do that in a partnership.

Altman said he had a "wonderful" discussion with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won about the production of high-performance AI memory chips and expressed hopes about stable chip supply.

Altman's visit to Korea was packed with business meetings aimed at securing partners to maintain America's supremacy in the AI market.