Trilateral AI cooperation among Korea-US-Japan

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son on Tuesday to discuss ways of cooperation on the Stargate project worth 730 trillion won. Stargate is a massive artificial intelligence (AI) investment project announced by U.S. President Donald Trump the day after his inauguration. Experts believe cooperation among Korea-U.S.-Japan AI is accelerating as the ‘Deep Seek Shock’ originating from China shakes the global AI market.

Chairman Lee met with CEO Altman and Chairman Son at the VIP reception room Corporate Club on the 5th floor of the Samsung Electronics building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, around 2:45 p.m. The previous day, Chairman Lee was acquitted in an appeal trial on charges of unfair merger and accounting fraud. The trilateral meeting regarding Stargate was Chairman Lee's first official schedule since his acquittal.

The business world predicts that Chairman Lee, free of judicial risks, will actively engage in global AI projects, including Stargate, in which President Trump is placing great efforts. CEO Altman and Chairman Son attended President Trump's White House press conference together last month and announced that they would build AI infrastructure across the United States by 2029.

Samsung Electronics is a potential investor in the Stargate project and a partner with high-bandwidth memory (HBM), semiconductor design, and foundry (semiconductor consignment production) solutions for AI semiconductors. Chairman Son, who arrived at Gimpo Airport for the meeting, met with reporters at the Seocho building and said that he “would discuss updates to Stargate and potential cooperation with Samsung.” Regarding whether he was considering investment from Samsung Electronics, Son replied that the topic had not proceeded to detailed levels yet and would be discussed through conversations.


Do-Young Kwak now@donga.com