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Samsung chairman meets Tesla's Elon Musk, AMD's Lisa Su during U.S. trip

Published: 16 Dec. 2025, 19:26 Updated: 16 Dec. 2025, 19:43

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Gimpo Business Aviation Center in western Seoul on Dec. 15 after completing a trip to the United States. [YONHAP]

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong returned from a U.S. business trip where he met with AMD CEO Lisa Su and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Having fully shaken off long-running legal risks at home, Lee is now expected to begin laying the groundwork in earnest for a so-called New Samsung next year.

Lee returned to Seoul late Monday night via Gimpo International Airport in Gangseo District, western Seoul, according to business circles on Tuesday. Over the past week, he is said to have traveled coast to coast, starting in New York, moving through Texas and ending in California.

In Taylor, Texas, Lee visited Samsung’s semiconductor plant to inspect operations and met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to discuss possible cooperation. Samsung and Tesla signed a contract in July on Tesla’s next-generation AI chip, known as AI6. Lee is also reported to have held a series of meetings with top executives from major tech companies, including the AMD CEO.

Lee has paid particular attention to the United States, visiting the country at least five times this year. In July, he attended the annual Sun Valley Conference, a gathering of global business leaders, before traveling on to Los Angeles and Silicon Valley to meet with Big Tech executives. Upon returning to Korea, he said that he had “come back after preparing for next year’s business.”

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, second from bottom right, chats with other attendees before the opening ceremony for the China Development Forum at Diaoyutai Guesthouse in Beijing on March 23. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

In August, Lee joined a Korean economic delegation on a visit to the United States, and in October, ahead of the conclusion of Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations, he attended a meeting over a round of golf among business leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump, stepping up his role as a de facto private-sector diplomat.

Earlier in the year, Lee urged Samsung executives to adopt a “do or die” mindset and chose China as his first official overseas destination in March to kick off his global management push.

He met Xiaomi founder Lei Jun at the company’s Beijing plant and BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu at the automaker’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, and also joined other global CEOs in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip produced tangible results, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics securing a supply deal for multilayer ceramic capacitors with BYD.

In April, shortly after returning from China, Lee traveled to Japan to meet with local business leaders in Osaka and Tokyo. He has long made frequent trips to Japan to maintain ties with the country’s business community, dating back to the era of his late father, former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. Last month, Lee flew to Abu Dhabi to attend a business roundtable.

Samsung Electronics recently made top-level executive appointments, outlining its management direction for 2026. From left: Vice Chairman and CEO Jun Young-hyun, who leads the Device Solutions division; CEO Roh Tae-moon, head of the Device eXperience division; and Park Hong-kun, head of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

With most of his overseas schedule for the year now complete, Lee plans to focus on shaping Samsung’s business strategy for next year. Recent executive appointments underscored that direction, with Samsung naming Park Hong-kun, a chaired professor at Harvard University, as head of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, and promoting Roh Tae-moon, an engineer by training, to head of the Device eXperience division and company CEO. Together with Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who leads the Device Solutions division, the two form a dual leadership structure aimed at restoring Samsung’s technological edge.

Challenges ahead remain formidable. Samsung must regain leadership in the AI memory market by successfully commercializing its sixth-generation high bandwidth memory, slated for use in Nvidia’s next-generation AI accelerators.

In the foundry business, stabilizing the 2-nanometer process to narrow the gap with TSMC is an urgent task. Securing a decisive technological edge through the integration of AI into smartphones and home appliances is also seen as a key priority. Attention is also focused on whether Lee will return next year to Samsung’s board of directors as a registered executive as part of strengthening accountable management.

Samsung Electronics is holding its global strategy meetings through Thursday, chaired by Roh and Jun. After receiving a briefing on the discussions, Lee is expected to convene a meeting of the heads of Samsung affiliates early next year to directly discuss business strategies for the year ahead.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NA SANG-HYEON [[email protected]]