Did Chairman Lee Jae-yong Bring Back Major Orders from China? Another 'March Trip to China'

According to The Financial News, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong has returned from his trip to China. He visited China in March in 2023, last year, and again this year, making all three trips in the month of March.
According to business circles on the 27th, Lee arrived back in Korea the previous day after completing his schedule in China. His stay in China is believed to have lasted five to six days.
During this trip, Lee attended the China Development Forum (CDF) held in Beijing and met extensively with senior Chinese government officials and key partner companies. In a separate meeting with Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC), he was briefed on the state of the Chinese economy and the Chinese government's 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China. The Chinese side also asked him to expand local investment in China and to play a greater role in stabilizing the semiconductor supply chain. Samsung Electronics currently operates a global NAND flash memory plant in Xi'an and a back-end semiconductor process (packaging) plant in Suzhou.
Lee said, "China is an important market in Samsung's global strategy," adding, "We see new opportunities in 'high-quality development.'" The term "high-quality development" is the Chinese government's new growth policy line, emphasizing qualitative growth that differs from past quantitative expansion, with a focus on fostering advanced industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).
During this trip, Lee is said to have explored cooperation opportunities with China mainly in the areas of automotive electronic components, artificial intelligence (AI), and semiconductors.
Lee also visited China in March last year, when he attended the CDF and then separately met President Xi Jinping along with other global business leaders. He visited companies such as Xiaomi and BYD, pushing to expand Samsung's automotive electronics business. Shortly afterward, in April of that year, Samsung Electro-Mechanics achieved a major win by securing a large multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) order from a Chinese company. In March 2023, Lee had also traveled to China to inspect Samsung Electro-Mechanics' Tianjin plant. His "March trips to China" are effectively becoming a regular pattern.
Meanwhile, during this latest trip, a photo of Lee visiting the Great Wall of China spread online and drew considerable attention.


ehcho@fnnews.com Cho Eun-hyo Reporter