Shares of South Korean semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged significantly on Thursday, following the announcement of their partnership with artificial intelligence leader OpenAI as part of the U.S. company’s Stargate initiative.

Samsung’s shares climbed over 4%, reaching their highest level since January 2021, while SK Hynix’s stock soared more than 9%, hitting its highest point since the year 2000.

In a statement, OpenAI explained that the partnership will focus on increasing the supply of advanced memory chips essential for next-generation AI technologies and expanding data center capacity in South Korea. The ChatGPT developer also revealed that both chipmakers plan to scale up production of advanced memory chips critical for powering its AI models.

The announcement coincided with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s visit to Seoul, where he met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and the top executives of Samsung and SK Hynix.

Earlier this month, SK Hynix announced it was ready to mass-produce its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, solidifying its leading position in the AI hardware value chain. HBM is a specialized type of memory used in chipsets designed for AI computing, including those from global AI powerhouse Nvidia, a major client of SK Hynix.

The upcoming HBM4 chips are expected to be the primary AI memory chips required for Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin architecture—an advanced AI chip intended for global data centers.

While SK Hynix has long been a primary chip supplier to Nvidia, rival Samsung is reportedly working to get its HBM4 chips certified by Nvidia, aiming to expand its footprint in the AI chip market.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/02/sk-hynix-samsung-shares-openai-stargate-korea.html