OpenAI's Altman clinches Kakao deal, 2nd major Asian alliance this week

Kakao operates South Korea's dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, which has a whopping 97% domestic market share and has expanded into areas such as e-commerce, payments and gaming.

Seoul: OpenAI said on Tuesday it will develop artificial intelligence 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 Sam Altman also announced a partnership with Japan's SoftBank Group on Monday and is, according to sources, scheduled to visit India on Wednesday 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," Altman told a joint press conference with Kakao CEO Chung Shina in Seoul.

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

The OpenAI CEO met SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won earlier on Tuesday. 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.

Son on Tuesday 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.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced private sector investment of up to $500 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, Altman said the US company was "actively considering" such a move.

Last month, 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," 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 ($1.4 billion).

Kakao Shares were up 0.2 per cent on Tuesday after surging 9 per cent on Monday.