OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Meet South Korean President Amid AI Industry Expansion

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Will Meet South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung While Country Emerges As Key Market For ChatGPT Parent - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Seoul on Wednesday as the country pushes to expand its artificial intelligence industry. Sam Altman's Visit To Seoul According to the presidential office, Altman will meet Lee at the presidential office in central Seoul, reported Reuters. OpenAI this year opened its first Seoul office, appointing former Google executive KyoungHoon Kim to lead operations. The country has quickly become one of OpenAI's most important markets, with the highest number of paying ChatGPT subscribers outside the U.S. Altman is also expected to hold talks with executives from Samsung Electronics Co. (OTC:SSNLF) and SK Hynix, two of the world's leading memory chipmakers supplying components critical to AI data centers. OpenAI has already partnered with Kakao, the country's dominant messaging platform, to develop localized AI services. See Also: The Dollar Is Declining So Fast That It Will Bring Even More Inflation, Says Market Analyst: 'Position Yourself Accordingly' OpenAI's Expanding Global Footprint Altman's visit comes as OpenAI's global valuation climbs. Reports in August said the company is exploring a secondary stock sale that could value it at $500 billion, up from $300 billion earlier this year. The prospective $500 billion valuation marks a 67% rise from OpenAI's current $300 billion valuation, which was set during a record-breaking $40 billion funding round completed in April. That round, spearheaded by SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBF) (OTC:SFTBY) with involvement from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), stands as the largest in venture capital history, according to PitchBook data. Meanwhile, earlier this month, Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced it would invest $100 billion to supply OpenAI with chips for its next-generation data infrastructure. Microsoft shares fell 0.57% in after-hours trading to $515.01, according to Benzinga Pro. The stock shows a positive trend across short, medium and long-term horizons. Click here for a detailed look at the stock, its peers and competitors. Read Next: Apple May See Fewer Searches In Safari, But Google CEO Sundar Pichai Insists AI Is Fueling Overall Query Growth: 'Far From A Zero-Sum Game' Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo Courtesy: Meir Chaimowitz on Shutterstock.com MSFTMicrosoft Corp$515.010.08%OverviewNVDANVIDIA Corp$185.752.14%SFTBFSoftBank Group Corp$107.63-15.3%SFTBYSoftBank Group Corp$63.30-2.10%SSNLFSamsung Electronics Co Ltd$42.480.34%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

South Korean president to meet with OpenAI CEO on Wednesday

SEOUL (Reuters) -OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman on Wednesday plans to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who seeks to boost Asia's fourth-biggest economy through a policy of boosting investment in artificial intelligence, the presidential office has said. The meeting will take place at the presidential office in center Seoul at 6 p.m. (0900 GMT), the office said. OpenAI this year set up its first office in Seoul and appointed former Google official KyoungHoon Kim to lead the operation, as demand in the country jumps for its ChatGPT service. South Korea has the largest number of paying ChatGPT subscribers after the United States, according to OpenAI. During his visit to Seoul, Altman is also expected to meet with leaders of South Korea's chipmakers - Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which make advanced memory chips used in AI data centers, media reports said. At the White House in January, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the "Stargate" AI infrastructure project that would cost half a trillion dollars and be developed by OpenAI and its partners. including SoftBank and Oracle. Nvidia said last week that it will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply it with data center chips. Earlier this year, OpenAI said it would develop AI products for South Korea with South Korea's dominant chat app operator Kakao. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Leslie Adler)