Sam Altman meets with Samsung leadership to secure more RAM for data centers amid crushing shortages

What happened

According to Bloomberg (article published 1 November 2026), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman traveled to South Korea to meet Samsung leadership amid crushing memory shortages for data centers, meeting about 50 senior Samsung executives. The meeting took place on Saturday, October 30 at Samsung's Resources Development Center in Yongin, bringing together chiefs from Samsung's financial, electronics, and biotechnology businesses. Samsung Korea confirmed the discussion revolved around strengthening existing ties, particularly a letter of Intent signed in October (year written as 20225 in the source) to cooperate on global AI infrastructure, including supplying memory semiconductors for OpenAI's Stargate project. However, Samsung emphasized AI transformation and future business opportunities rather than announcing a new memory supply agreement. Background figures: AMD forecasts DRAM revenue will jump 177% in 2026 to about $416 billion; TrendForce estimates DRAM supply will fall 1% to 2% short of demand this year, with the imbalance expected to worsen in 2027; Micron recently warned that since new capacity takes time, the shortage could persist into 2028. Counterpoint Research data show Samsung and SK hynix controlled about 63% of global DRAM revenues in Q2 2026, and roughly 83% of global HBM revenue; AMD CEO Lisa Su also visited earlier this month to discuss securing additional HBM supplies from Samsung.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: Tom's Hardware · 11/1/2026 · View original source