Samsung Electronics CEO Lee Jae-yong met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on May 10 to discuss future cooperation options in cutting-edge industries, according to Yonhap news agency. Yonhap believes that this hints at a possible business partnership between the chipmaker and Tesla.
According to industry sources, Lee returned home on the 12th after a 22-day business trip to the US. the entrepreneurs, experts and scholars he met with were mainly related to AI, semiconductors, next-generation communications, biology and more.
According to the report, Lee Jae-Yong had a meeting with Musk on Wednesday at Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor research center in California’s Silicon Valley, U.S. time. It was also the first private meeting between Lee Jae-Yong and Musk. Industry insiders say Samsung and Tesla have been seeking to collaborate on developing next-generation IT technology, including chips for fully self-driving cars.
Lee Jae-Yong was accompanied in the meeting with Musk by Kyung Kyung-hyun (president), head of Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (DS) division, Choi Si-young (president), head of Samsung Electronics foundry business, Han Jin-man, vice president of Samsung Electronics general manager of the Americas (DSA), and Choi Joo-seon, president of Samsung Display, while Kahn Budiraj, vice president of Tesla’s supply chain, and Andrew Baglino, Tesla’s chief technology officer (CTO ) and others also attended the meeting.
Industry stakeholders said, “Samsung is facing the challenge of cultivating its future potential business into a new mainstay at a time of global ICT market downturn,” and “At a major crossroads, Chairman Lee personally went to the global network Tokai to explore new business strategies and achieved a breakthrough.”
