Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong heads to Osaka after Shenzhen trip

Samsung Electronics heir and Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong headed to Osaka, Japan on Friday after a three-day trip to Shenzhen, China, as confirmed by The Korea Herald.

While some industry officials forecast that Lee would hold meetings with Japanese business partners in Osaka as apart of annual greetings, the heir is also expected to take a short respite after his business trip to China, on which he was accompanied by the top officials of Samsung’s semiconductor business to seek new growth opportunities. 

Meanwhile, Kim Ki-nam, CEO of Samsung’s semiconductor division, Lee Dong-hoon, president of Samsung Display, and other officials returned to Seoul through Gimpo Airport on Friday.

Lee and four Samsung CEOs held meetings with major Chinese clients including, electric vehicle maker BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, Huawei Chairman Ren Zhengfei, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun and BBK CEO Shen Wei, according to Samsung.

Regarding upcoming partnerships with BYD, CEO Kim hinted Samsung is embarking on new businesses with the Chinese EV company.

“It was my first meeting with BYD, and we discussed various things,” Kim told The Korea Herald.

Since Samsung bought a roughly 2 percent stake in BYD in 2016, not much cooperation has happened. Samsung would likely want to supply automotive chips and sensors for the Chinese company, but there was no such deal yet.

Kim also suggested potential partnerships with Xiaomi.

“Xiaomi is involved in a lot of businesses including TV, aside from the smartphone business,” Kim said.

Samsung could seek more partnerships with Xiaomi in the Internet of Things and other appliances, according to Kim.

The Samsung heir reportedly discussed new business partnerships with the Chinese IT moguls, as he is looking for new growth engines for Samsung, such as automotive electronics, which will Lee hopes to lead the tech titan’s future growth after the current boom in the memory business.

Lee seemed to be paying quite a lot of attention to the smartphone business, too.

Lee and several officials including Samsung’s semiconductor business chief Kim Ki-nam were photographed by a Chinese netizen on Thursday while looking at Xiaomi’s Mi Mix S2 smartphone at an electronics shop. The picture was posted on a social network site.

Some Chinese media outlets speculated that Lee was trying to find answers for the falling market share of Samsung phones in China by visiting local electronics shops and examining local products. Lee reportedly also visited a Samsung shop to check out Korean products on sale.

According to data from Strategy Analytics, Samsung ranked fifth in the Chinese market with a 0.8 percent share, as of the fourth quarter of last year, behind Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. In the same period, Xiaomi also beat Samsung in the Indian market.

Lee’s visit to the electronics shops could be a prelude to changes in Samsung’s smartphone business strategy for China, along with a new business or investment plan for the country, which are likely to be made public after the latest trip, industry sources speculated.

Lee and four heads of the chipmaking division and display subsidiary of Samsung departed Wednesday for business meetings with Chinese partners.

With Lee’s latest trip, the tech titan appears to be gradually increasing exposure of its heir apparent following his release from jail in February after serving a term for bribery.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)