Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, departed for the United States on the 29th for global business cooperation. This is the first confirmed external schedule in 12 days since the Supreme Court's not guilty verdict on the 17th. There are also predictions that he will provide support for tariff negotiations with the U.S.
The chairman arrived at Gimpo International Airport around 3:50 p.m. that day before departing for Washington, D.C. He simply responded "Hello" when questioned by reporters about the purpose of his visit to the U.S.
It is reported that the chairman will discuss global business cooperation strategies with major partners and seek new business opportunities during this visit.
As the implementation of reciprocal tariffs between the U.S. is just three days away, there are expectations that the chairman may propose expanding semiconductor investment in the U.S. and technology cooperation in advanced artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors as negotiation cards.
Samsung Electronics operates a foundry factory in Austin, Texas. Accordingly, it has decided to invest more than $37 billion (about 54 trillion won) to establish a semiconductor production base in the U.S. by 2030. The company is building a foundry factory in Taylor, Texas, with a goal to start operations next year.
In particular, Samsung Electronics announced the day before that it had signed the largest foundry supply contract in history with Tesla worth 22.8 trillion won and will begin producing Tesla's next-generation AI chip AI6 at the Taylor plant starting next year.
Industry observers suggest that this contract aligns with the U.S. government's semiconductor industry revitalization policy and investment attraction strategy, potentially benefiting negotiations between Korea and the U.S.
Lee Su-rim, a researcher at DS Investment & Securities, evaluated that "Samsung's expansion of semiconductor investment in the U.S. has created an incentive to alleviate tariff pressure on Korean semiconductors."
There are also observations that the government could use Samsung Electronics' case as a logic to persuade the U.S. about "the expansion of direct investment in the U.S. for job creation and AI development" in the Korea-U.S. negotiations.
The tariff on semiconductor items, which is set to go into effect in early August, may also be attempted to be alleviated based on this investment expansion logic.
Tesla is also evaluating the significance of this collaboration far beyond the scale of 23 trillion won, leading to increased expectations for cooperation between the two countries' semiconductor industries.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, emphasized the day before, after the contract took effect, that "the $16.5 billion figure is just the minimum. The actual production volume is expected to be several times higher," adding, "The strategic importance of this cannot be overstated."
This visit by the chairman to the U.S. is the first confirmed external schedule since the Supreme Court's not guilty verdict on the 17th. He has been focusing on management activities without any particular statements or external schedules since the verdict.
On the 24th, he reportedly had a private dinner with President Lee Jae-myung, leading to speculation that the meeting involved discussions about investment strategies related to tariff negotiations.
Meanwhile, in the business sector, executives are visiting the U.S. to bolster the final stages of the Korea-U.S. negotiations. The day before, Kim Dong-kwan, vice chairman of Hanwha Group, embarked on his trip to the U.S.