OpenAI CEO Sam Altman struck a deal with South Korea's Kakao on Tuesday as the US firm seeks new partnerships following the skyrocketing rise of Chinese competitor DeepSeek.

Kakao, which operates South Korea's largest taxi-hailing app, KakaoTalk, and an online bank, revealed the collaboration, which will integrate ChatGPT into its AI services, joining a global alliance led by OpenAI amid rising sector competition.

Altman’s company is also part of the Stargate initiative launched by US President Donald Trump, which aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the US DeepSeek's high-performance AI, offered at a low cost, has triggered a wave of concern in Silicon Valley.

Altman's company is part of the Stargate initiative launched by US President Donald Trump, which aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States. But with DeepSeek, Silicon Valley has gone into a frenzy, with some calling the AI newcomer's high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.

"We're excited to bring advanced AI to Kakao's millions of users and work together to integrate our technology into services that transform how Kakao's users communicate and connect," Altman commented. "Kakao has a deep understanding of how technology can enrich everyday lives," he added.

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Kakao's CEO, Shina Chung, expressed enthusiasm about the "strategic collaboration", highlighting its potential to transform the company's offerings.

Altman’s visit also included meetings with top South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK hynix to explore collaboration on AI memory chips, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and AI services.

Altman is expected to meet with Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong later Tuesday. Samsung's memory business EVP, Jaejune Kim, mentioned last week that the company is “monitoring industry trends considering various scenarios” in response to DeepSeek’s rise.

OpenAI warns of Chinese firms replicating AI models

OpenAI recently alleged that Chinese firms are attempting to replicate its advanced models, which has led to closer collaboration with US authorities.

Furthermore, OpenAI claims competitors are using a technique known as distillation, where smaller models learn from larger ones by mimicking their behavior and decision-making patterns, similar to a student learning from a teacher.

It is worth noting that OpenAI is also facing allegations of intellectual property violations, particularly regarding the use of copyrighted materials in training its generative AI models.

Read more: DeepSeek disrupts global tech markets, challenges US AI dominance