Samsung Group brought about 50 executives together with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman on 31 October at a training centre in Yongin, South Korea, to discuss AI strategy across its businesses, Chosun reported. The meeting brought leaders from electronics, finance and biotech affiliates into Samsung’s company-wide AI training programme.
Key points
- Samsung executives and Altman discussed AI applications in management and potential new business lines.
- Samsung Electronics signed a letter of intent with OpenAI in October 2025 covering AI infrastructure cooperation.
- Samsung is training approximately 2,300 corporate officers and plans to extend AI training to its entire workforce.
Altman meets Samsung leaders in Yongin
The Korea Daily put attendance at more than 50 executives. Chosun described the venue as the Samsung Human Resources Development Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The Korea Daily called it the Samsung Human Resources Development Institute.
Samsung Electronics chief executive and vice chairman Jun Young-hyun attended, along with president Roh Tae-moon and Park Hark-kyu, the company’s head of business support and a president. Choi Joo-sun, chief executive of Samsung SDI, and Chang Duck-hyun, chief executive of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, were also present.
Chosun gave the seminar’s theme as “The Next Decade Transformed by AI: Corporate Choices.” The Korea Daily rendered it “The Next 10 Years Changed by AI: Corporate Choices.” According to Samsung, participants discussed where AI technology is heading, possible applications and emerging business opportunities. They also considered its use in corporate decisions and organisational management.
The meeting followed a practical session in which executives used generative AI to organise scattered business data into personal knowledge repositories and practised applying the tools to decisions. It was their second intensive programme, following an initial workshop in June. The Korea Daily said the session was designed to give managers direct experience with AI tools for everyday operations.
Samsung’s OpenAI links extend to infrastructure
The leadership session adds a management discussion to an existing infrastructure relationship. Samsung Electronics signed a letter of intent with OpenAI in October 2025 to work on global AI infrastructure development, The Korea Daily reported. The arrangement included a push to supply memory semiconductors for Stargate, OpenAI’s planned data centre network. A letter of intent is the agreement identified for that work.
Other Samsung businesses have separate projects. Samsung SDS agreed to cooperate on AI data centre construction and enterprise AI services. Samsung C&T and Samsung Heavy Industries are jointly developing offshore floating data centres. AI Affairs previously reported Samsung SDS’s plan for a Vera Rubin cloud service in March 2027.
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong visited OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco in July 2026. The Yongin seminar brought Altman into a discussion with leaders of several Samsung affiliates, rather than only the electronics business involved in the letter of intent.
Samsung expands training beyond its executives
Samsung calls its company-wide AI transformation AX. Its affiliates have formed dedicated AI groups and are expanding their use of external generative AI services. Those groups develop plans suited to each affiliate and support work with data, models and applications.
In messages issued ahead of the meeting, Jun urged a realistic assessment of the semiconductor business’s competitiveness instead of celebrating achievements driven by AI growth. Roh called for stronger underlying capabilities and the use of AX in the company’s finished-products business. Their remarks placed the executive training alongside the operating priorities of Samsung’s two main electronics divisions.
Samsung has begun educational programmes for approximately 2,300 corporate officers. It plans to review work across affiliates and set implementation tasks as those programmes expand. Samsung plans to complete AI training for all employees by February 2027.
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