Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong met Mercedes-Benz Chairman Ola Källenius for dinner at Seungjiwon in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, at 7 p.m. on the 13th, and discussed ways to cooperate on automotive electronics. The meeting between Lee and Källenius came about six months after the China Development Forum (CDF) held at Diaoyutai in Beijing on May.
Choi Joo-sun, president of Samsung SDI, and Christian Sobottka, CEO of Harman, were also said to have joined the dinner. Seungjiwon is a space that the late former Chairman Lee Kun-hee inherited from the founding patriarch as a residence and used as both an office and a guesthouse, and it is used for key meetings with major figures at home and abroad. In February last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also visited the venue.
Lee has focused on fostering the automotive electronics business, including by leading the acquisition of Samsung Electronics' audio and automotive electronics subsidiary Harman. At the dinner, discussions were also said to have been held on supplying automotive parts by major affiliates.
Samsung and Benz are currently collaborating on in-vehicle infotainment systems, digital keys, and car audio. Harman supplies the next-generation infotainment platform "MBUX" installed in Benz's EQS electric vehicle, and Samsung Display and Samsung Electro-Mechanics are also expanding their collaboration base in vehicle OLEDs and automotive MLCCs. In business circles, there is a strong view that the two companies' cooperation could widen to core components such as batteries and automotive semiconductors.
Lee is nurturing batteries and automotive electronics, the key components of future mobility, as Samsung's future growth pillars, and has also worked to expand networks with global automakers. In 2020, Lee invited then–Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun to Samsung SDI's Cheonan business sites to discuss solid-state battery technology, and in 2023, met Tesla CEO Elon Musk in the United States to discuss potential cooperation. In March this year, Lee visited BYD headquarters and Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun in China, broadening contact points with China's electric vehicle industry.
Samsung's automotive electronics business is also showing results based on Lee's global network. Samsung SDI signed a battery supply contract in 2023 for Hyundai Motor's next-generation electric vehicle models (2026–2032). In July, Tesla said it would produce the Autonomous Driving semiconductor AI6 at Samsung Electronics' Taylor plant in Texas, U.S., concretizing the two companies' foundry cooperation. Samsung Electro-Mechanics began supplying MLCCs to BYD in April this year, a month after Lee's visit to BYD.
Samsung SDI has expanded its premium EV supply chain based on its pouch- and cylindrical-battery technologies and is recognized for its competitiveness in solid-state batteries. If Samsung SDI builds a next-generation battery supply chain with Benz, it will have all three German premium automakers—Benz, BMW, and Audi—as clients. Harman supplies the MBUX (digital cockpit system) for the Benz EQS model and holds key automotive electronics solution technologies including car audio, ADAS, and telematics.
Meanwhile, Källenius earlier met at the LG Twin Towers with LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan, LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung, LG Display CEO Jeong Chul-dong, and LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuk-soo. Before the meeting, Källenius said, "LG is a long-standing and strong partner of Benz." Källenius is also scheduled to meet Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang of HS Hyosung. HS Hyosung The Class, an affiliate of HS Hyosung, is an official Benz dealer in Korea.
A business community official said, "As Samsung, LG, and others are focusing on expanding their automotive electronics businesses, this visit to Korea will likely serve as a catalyst for broad discussions on cooperation."