OpenAI, Kakao to jointly develop AI products for South Korea

SEOUL - OpenAI said on Feb 4 that it will develop artificial intelligence (AI) products for South Korea with chat app operator Kakao, unveiling a second major alliance with a high-profile Asian partner this week.

In a whirlwind tour through Asia, OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman also announced a

partnership with Japan’s SoftBank Group

a day earlier and is, according to sources, scheduled to visit India on Feb 5, where he is seeking to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Like SoftBank, Kakao said it would be using technology developed by the ChatGPT creator for its products.

Kakao operates South Korea’s dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, which has a whopping 97 per cent domestic market share and has expanded into areas such as e-commerce, payments and gaming. It has positioned AI as a new engine of growth, but analysts say it has lagged behind local rival Naver in the AI race.

“We are particularly interested in AI and messaging,” Mr Altman told a joint press conference with Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a in Seoul.

Mr Altman also said many Korean companies will be important contributors to the Stargate data centre project, a mega venture between OpenAI and Oracle to build AI capacity in the US. He declined to elaborate, saying he wants to keep partnership conversations confidential.

The OpenAI co-founder and CEO met SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won earlier on Feb 4. He also plans to meet Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in Seoul later in the day, Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

Mr Son on Feb 3 told reporters that he would be discussing updates on Stargate and “potential cooperation” with Samsung, as he was entering Samsung’s office in Seoul. When asked whether he will request Samsung’s investment in the project, he said, “nothing specific”, adding that they have to start cooperation talks.

Both SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics produce high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI processors.

Samsung and Softbank declined to comment on the meeting.

In January, US President Donald Trump announced private sector investment of up to US$500 billion ($684 billion) to fund AI infrastructure, noting the market for AI products was growing “super fast”.

Asked whether OpenAI was looking at joining and investing in South Korea’s AI computing centre project, Mr Altman said the US company was “actively considering” such a move.

In January, the South Korean government said it planned to build a national AI computing centre plans for the Stargate data centre project.

“There is so much happening in Korea that will be critical for that,” Mr Altman said.

He added that Korea’s energy, semiconductor and internet companies made the country an important market for OpenAI, noting that Korean demand that would draw on investment from the public and private sectors worth up to 2 trillion won (S$1.9 billion).

Kakao, one of Korea’s two dominant internet players, has been through a tumultuous few months, with its founder facing allegations of price rigging and Ms Chung taking up her post to steady the ship a year ago. Prior to stepping in as CEO, she was part of Kakao Ventures, which made several bets in fields from AI and robotics to gaming and digital healthcare under her leadership.

Kakao shares were up 0.2 per cent on Feb 4 after surging 9 per cent the previous day. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG