Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong is reportedly planning to meet with the CEOs of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft next month. According to the Korean media, the meetings will be part of Lee’s upcoming three-week business tour to the US. The tour could begin as early as this weekend and end in the second week of May.
Samsung Chairman to embark on a lengthy US tour this weekend to meet tech CEOs
Lee’s lengthy business trip to the US will include several meetings and conferences in various parts of the nation. He will begin the tour with a business roundtable of an economic mission for “intergovernmental negotiations related to the US Semiconductor Support Act”. The Samsung chief will inform US government officials of the company’s current semiconductor situation and vision.
Following that meeting, Lee plans to visit its various industry partners in the US. In the first week of May, the Samsung Chairman will visit Verizon and other US telcos to discuss business strategies. The Korean firm has a strong presence in the telecommunications equipment business. It signed a $6.6 billion supply contract with Verizon in 2020. The company is also in talks with T-Mobile for a similar business opportunity.
Lee Jae-yong is then expected to visit the headquarters of Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna. The firm has a close relationship with Samsung’s biotechnology arm Samsung Biologics. The latter helped Moderna in the production of its COVID-19 vaccine a few years back (via Hankyung).
Finally, in the second week of May, Lee will meet with the CEOs of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. While Google and Apple compete against Samsung in various businesses, including smartphones, they are also among its biggest customers. The Korean firm supplies displays, semiconductors, and more components to the two rivals. All modern iPhones feature Samsung-made displays, while Google’s Pixels smartphones use Samsung-made Tensor processors.
Amazon and Microsoft are also among Samsung’s biggest customers. They source most of their memory chip needs from the South Korean behemoth. The market for memory chips has seen a steep decline in recent months, severely affecting Samsung’s profits. Lee Jae-yong would be looking to strengthen its partnerships with two of the world’s top three cloud companies to ensure it stays at the top of the game and is ready to pounce on the opportunity once demand grows.
The South Korean President is also visiting the US next week
As said earlier, Lee is expected to fly to the US as early as this weekend. He reportedly wants to accompany South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol during the latter’s visit to the US next week. Yoon will be in the US from April 24-29 for a summit with US President Joe Biden. This will be the first US visit by a South Korean leader since Lee Myung-bak in 2011.
2023-04-21 15:04:55