By Kang Jae-eun
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand is expected to continue, and OpenAI will continue to prioritize partnerships with South Korean companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the company's regional head said Wednesday.
Kim Kyung-hoon, the general manager of OpenAI Korea, made the remarks at a press conference held in Seoul to mark the regional office's first year since its establishment.
"It is important to have highly advanced semiconductors help faster and more intricate AI processing," Kim said at the event, reaffirming market optimism for an AI memory boom, following the debut of OpenAI's latest AI model, GPT-6 Astra, unveiled early this month.
Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. each rose over 3 percent and 5 percent, respectively, on Monday, following the roll-out.
When asked about the government's push to invest in the development of homegrown frontier AI models, the ex-Google executive said he sees the move in a "positive light," as it not only broadens user options, but also helps nurture South Korea's entire AI ecosystem, from the country's semiconductor supply chain to AI-related talent.
Kim Kyung-hoon, the general manager of OpenAI Korea, speaks at an event in southern Seoul, on Sept. 8, 2026. (Yonhap)
During the conference, OpenAI highlighted ChatGPT's accomplishments in South Korea over the past year.
Users of its enterprise-grade ChatGPT models here increased 28 times on-year as of end-August, while those of ChatGPT Work and OpenAI's coding agent, Codex, jumped 14 times over the past six months since March.
Weekly active users for its general-purpose ChatGPT models in South Korea was up 35 percent on-year as of Aug, 25, the company said.
OpenAI said it expects such a trend to accelerate with the deployment of GPT-6 Astra. It is seeking to support inference residency while making efforts to expand its cybersecurity project "Daybreak Partner" with local firms.
The ChatGPT developer is also preparing to scale up its local team dedicated to its advertisement business, the company added. OpenAI rolled out its ad-supported AI service for lower-tier ChatGPT models in South Korea in mid-June.
fairydust@yna.co.kr
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