Altman Meets with Samsung Executives: Acknowledges AI Short-Term Bubble and Overestimation of Computing Demand

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rarely admitted during a closed-door meeting with Samsung executives that there is redundancy in the demand for AI infrastructure and proposed a collaboration with Samsung to develop the next generation of AI terminal devices.

According to South Korea's Financial News, during his visit to Korea at the end of last month, Altman warned about 50 senior executives from various divisions of the Samsung Group: the demand for AI memory and data centers may fluctuate in the short term, and there is a situation of demand redundancy in the market.

At the same time, Altman extended an olive branch to Samsung, expressing a desire to co-develop the next generation of AI terminal devices aimed at the "post-smartphone" era, which is interpreted as OpenAI's strategic move to collaborate with Samsung to counter Apple's dominant position in the ecosystem.

Short-Term Demand Risks Bubble

In response to Samsung executives' questions about whether AI and memory demand will saturate or slow down in the next 5 to 10 years, Altman clearly stated, "There will be fluctuations in the short term."

He specifically criticized the bubble controversy surrounding "emerging cloud service providers" this year—companies that specialize in renting out GPU and other AI computing infrastructure.

Altman pointed out that "there is a situation of demand redundancy," emphasizing that "only OpenAI and Anthropic can truly drive large-scale demand growth, and supply shocks and instability may come."

This statement is directly relevant to memory chip suppliers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The two companies announced last October that they would participate in the OpenAI-led "Stargate" project to advance advanced memory supply collaboration.

Long-Term Bottlenecks in Chip Supply Chain and Data Centers

Despite issuing warnings about short-term demand, Altman remains highly optimistic about the long-term demand prospects for AI.

He stated that as AI is applied in areas such as customized software real-time writing, robotics, spacecraft, and scientific research, the usage of information units "Tokens" in AI models will significantly increase.

He cited data indicating that at the beginning of 2020, the top user of Tokens consumed about 100,000 Tokens per month, while at the beginning of this year, the highest usage user had reached 100 billion Tokens per month.

When asked about the biggest bottleneck in AI expansion, Altman listed four factors: supply chain, fundraising, AI safety and social acceptance, and corporate transformation, identifying the "chip supply chain" and "data center infrastructure" as the most critical constraints in the coming years, calling for "more investment in the supply chain."

Analysts pointed out that Altman's special trip to Korea during his busy schedule, meeting with Samsung executives in a compact arrangement over two days, itself confirms the urgency of the memory chip supply shortage.

Low Profit Margins and Large-Scale Sales Business Logic

In response to Samsung executives' inquiries about whether continued large-scale investments would create profit pressure, Altman candidly stated, "This is the core issue," and elaborated on OpenAI's competitive strategy: to build vertically integrated infrastructure at a lower cost than any competitor, selling Tokens at low profit margins to win by volume.

He noted that investments in computing efficiency, such as self-developed chips, have already shown results, and by relying on long-term contracts, they achieve higher operational efficiency, thereby lowering the cost per Token processed.

Altman also emphasized, "The market size is large enough; the rules of ordinary commodity industries do not apply here," and that "merely meeting global Token demand is sufficient to establish an excellent industry."

Seeking to Co-Develop "Post-Smartphone" Devices with Samsung

On the device strategy front, Altman proactively proposed during the meeting, "I hope to work closely with Samsung to jointly develop integrated devices."

He described the next generation of AI terminals: not application-centered, but rather AI actively intervening and managing users' physical and virtual lives while minimizing disruption to users.

It is reported that OpenAI aims to develop an AI terminal device by next year, with the most likely form being a smart speaker smaller than a palm and without a screen.

Regarding the currently popular "AI glasses," Altman clearly stated that he holds reservations, saying, "They may be excellent in personal productivity, but when conversing, if the other person is wearing glasses and looking elsewhere, it feels like technology has intervened in interpersonal relationships, which makes me uncomfortable."

Strongly Advocating for a Comprehensive AI Transformation at Samsung

Altman also made a strong appeal to Samsung executives during the meeting, suggesting that Samsung should "fully bet on AI" and promote a comprehensive AI transformation within the company.

He pointed out that if AI is only used as a tool to enhance employee efficiency, productivity will increase by about 2 to 3 times; however, if the entire business process is led by AI, productivity can increase by up to 100 times. He cited OpenAI itself as an example, stating that the company fully introduced AI into all its businesses and services three months ago, where employees only need to input work priorities into AI, and AI can autonomously handle the context comprehensively.

Altman warned by referencing the mobile internet era: "Companies that acted first in the mobile era survived, while most that were late by a year or two were eliminated. In 3 to 5 years, companies that are not AI-based will be unable to maintain competitiveness."