OpenAI, Kakao to jointly develop AI products for South Korea

SEOUL: OpenAI said on Tuesday (Feb 4) 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 with 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 commands 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 press conference he held with Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a in Seoul.

Altman also said many Korean companies will be important contributors to the ecosystem of the US Stargate data centre project. He declined to elaborate, saying he wants to keep partnership conversations confidential.

He met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won earlier on Tuesday. He also plans to meet with Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in Seoul later in the day, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

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

Samsung declined to comment on the newspaper report, while SoftBank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced private sector investment of up to US$500 billion to fund AI infrastructure, noting OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle were planning a data centre venture called Stargate for AI projects.

"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 for AI products was growing "super fast".

Asked whether OpenAI is looking at joining and investing in South Korea's AI computing centre project, Altman said the US company is "actively considering" such a move.

Last month, the South Korean government said it planned to build a national AI computing centre that would draw on investment from the public and private sectors worth up to 2 trillion won (US$1.4 billion).

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