Samsung lands in northern Quebec the week of the Stargate AI push

Samsung flew from Lyon, France, to Chibougamau, Quebec, on June 15, a roughly six-hour transatlantic hop that lands the conglomerate’s executive team in a remote mining and forestry hub. The Boeing 787-8 BBJ, tail HL8508, departed Lyon-Saint Exupéry at 10:01 UTC and touched down at Chibougamau/Chapais Airport at 16:16 UTC.

The same week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman arrived in South Korea on June 14 for meetings with Samsung Electronics, Naver, and Kakao, per a report from BusinessKorea. Altman’s visit follows a June 10 state visit by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung to Italy, where Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong attended a business roundtable to expand automotive semiconductor partnerships with STMicroelectronics and supercar brands like Ferrari. The Stargate project—a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative—remains a central agenda item, with Samsung expected to supply high-performance memory for OpenAI’s models.

The Chibougamau stop is unusual for Samsung, whose executives typically shuttle between Incheon, Tokyo, Beijing, Silicon Valley, New York, London, and Delhi. The region’s critical minerals—copper, zinc, and graphite—are essential for semiconductor packaging and battery supply chains, suggesting this flight may be tied to resource sourcing or a strategic site visit rather than a routine business beat.