Samsung, SK Hynix shares leap after OpenAI chip deal

SEOUL (Reuters) -Shares of South Korea's Samsung Electronics jumped 4.7% and SK Hynix soared 12% on Thursday, bolstered by a deal with OpenAI to support the ChatGPT maker's expansive Stargate artificial intelligence data centre project. The partnership, announced late on Wednesday, sent Samsung shares to their highest in more than four years and SK Hynix to an all-time high, adding $37 billion to their combined market capitalisation. Their rally also propelled the benchmark KOSPI index more than 3% to a record. "There have been worries about high bandwidth memory (HBM) chip prices falling next year on intensifying competition, but such worries will be easily resolved by the strategic partnership," Jeff Kim, an analyst at KB Securities, said in a note, expecting a surge in demand from the project. "Since Stargate is a key project led by President Trump, there also is a possibility the partnership will have a positive impact on South Korea's trade negotiations with the U.S.," Kim said. OpenAI, participating in President Donald Trump's $500 billion Stargate private-sector initiative to build AI infrastructure in the U.S., agreed on Wednesday to join forces with the two chipmakers in semiconductor procurement and work on building two data centres in South Korea, a Korean-style Stargate. With the new data centres, which will have an initial capacity of 20 megawatts, Seoul is hoping to become an AI hub in Asia, while OpenAI is looking to cement its position in the country which has the second-largest number of paying ChatGPT users after the United States. Samsung Electronics' affiliates Samsung SDI, Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS also rose sharply on partnerships with the U.S. firm. The global AI boom has been driving strong demand for semiconductors, helping South Korea's exports rise in September at the fastest pace in 14 months despite a hit from U.S. tariffs, blowing past market expectations. South Korea hopes to formalise by late October a preliminary trade deal reached with Trump in July, lowering U.S. tariffs on South Korean imports in return for a $350 billion investment in the U.S. However, follow-up negotiations have stalled due to Seoul's concerns over the foreign exchange implications and structure of the investment package. (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jacqueline Wong)

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