OpenAI Courts Private Equity With 17.5% Return Guarantee

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an 'AI-based customized news recommendation and summarization service' developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six tailored news items for each reader type.

1. Ralphthon Rides Korean Success to U.S. Expansion, Adds New Sponsors

- Key Summary: Ralphthon, an AI agent hackathon hosted by developer community TeamAttention, will be held simultaneously in Seoul and San Francisco on March 29. Ralphthon differentiates itself from conventional hackathons by having participants present only ideas and designs during the first two hours, after which AI agents perform the actual coding. The first Seoul event in February was a hit, with AI agents generating approximately 500,000 lines of code. Following Kakao (035720.KQ) Ventures and OpenAI, Naver D2SF, Hangang Partners and Base Ventures have joined as sponsors. The strong U.S. interest stems from AI agent development becoming essential and the event offering an opportunity to test 'harness engineering,' which minimizes hallucinations.

2. OpenAI Courts Private Equity With 17.5% Return Guarantee

- Key Summary: OpenAI is in discussions with Bain Capital, TPG, Advent International and Brookfield Asset Management to establish a joint venture, seeking to raise $4 billion based on a $10 billion (approximately 15 trillion won) enterprise valuation. The joint venture structure would build customized AI models for portfolio companies owned by private equity firms, with both sides sharing the revenue. OpenAI has offered preferred shares guaranteeing a minimum 17.5% return and priority access to its latest AI models as conditions. Meanwhile, Anthropic is also pursuing a consulting venture with Blackstone and others to deploy its AI system 'Claude.' However, market reception has been cool, with multiple private equity firms deciding not to participate in either joint venture, citing uncertainty over profitability and a lack of flexibility.

3. "Current Valuations Are All Wrong" — Distrust Grows in Private Credit

- Key Summary: Apollo Global Management's private credit fund 'Apollo Debt Solutions' received redemption requests totaling $1.7 billion, equivalent to 11.2% of net asset value (NAV), but allowed only the 5% limit stipulated in its charter. Amid a flood of large-scale redemption requests hitting other private credit funds including Blackstone, Blue Owl and Ares Management, Apollo co-CEO John Zito warned that "most companies acquired between 2018 and 2022 were traded at valuations far higher than reality" and that loans to small and mid-sized software companies may recover only 20 to 40 cents on the dollar. Alternative investment manager Cliffwater also received redemption requests amounting to 14% of total stakes in its flagship fund, setting the limit at 7%. As a result, moves to sell approximately $1 billion in private credit holdings on the secondary market are continuing. Concerns are growing over a potential vicious cycle of asset value declines, as roughly one-quarter of the portfolios are concentrated in IT sectors exposed to AI disruption.

4. U.S. Rallies $1 Trillion Alliance Fund to Arm Semiconductor War Against China

- Key Summary: The United States has launched the 'Pax Silica Investment Consortium,' a coalition of nations investing more than $1 trillion (approximately 1,500 trillion won) in critical technology supply chains including critical minerals, energy and semiconductors. Pax Silica — combining the Latin word 'pax' (peace) with 'silica' (a semiconductor material) — is an organized framework of 11 countries that bundles AI infrastructure, semiconductors and energy as strategic assets to counter China's dominance over critical mineral supply chains including rare earths. SoftBank, led by Chairman Masayoshi Son, and Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek are joining as founding members. A notable Korean involvement is Korea Zinc (010130.KS), which has been tapped to build an approximately 11 trillion won smelter in Clarksville, Tennessee. However, questions have been raised about feasibility, given the exclusion of key manufacturing nations Taiwan, the Netherlands and Germany from the participating countries, and the lack of clarity on how the $1 trillion target will be achieved.

5. L&F (066970.KS) Signs 1.6 Trillion Won LFP Cathode Supply Deal With Samsung SDI (006400.KS)

- Key Summary: L&F has signed a mid-to-long-term supply contract with Samsung SDI for LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cathode materials worth 1.6 trillion won. The deal includes confirmed volumes for 2027–2029 and additional supply options for the following three years. It is the world's first large-scale LFP cathode supply contract with a non-Chinese company, carrying significant strategic implications amid the global battery supply chain's de-China trend. L&F is building annual production capacity of 60,000 tons, with the first-phase 30,000-ton facility scheduled for completion in April this year and full-scale mass production expected to begin as early as Q3 this year. The global ESS (energy storage system) battery market is projected to roughly double from $50.8 billion (approximately 76 trillion won) in 2025 to $106 billion in 2030, with Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution (373220.KS), SK On and the broader battery industry accelerating ESS order expansion.

6. Boston Dynamics' Rising Stature — Joins U.S. Robot Strategy Think Tank

- Key Summary: Boston Dynamics, the robotics subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, has joined the 'National Security Commission on Advanced Manufacturing Robotics' under the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a private think tank led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The commission includes Boston Dynamics, Nvidia, AMD, General Motors (GM) and MIT's Industrial Performance Center, among others, and plans to develop policy directions for securing U.S. leadership in the robotics industry. The commission will address public-private investment coordination, robotics workforce development, supply chain improvement and ecosystem strengthening before publishing a report next year. The U.S. Commerce Department has also separately convened a meeting with representatives from major companies including Boston Dynamics, Nvidia, OpenAI and Tesla to explore government support measures, reflecting the U.S. government's intensifying commitment to fostering the robotics industry.