Lee Jae-yong on US Trip Meets Moderna and Verizon CEOs in Succession... Accelerating Growth Engine Discovery (Comprehensive)

Global Management in Full Swing
Discussion on Cooperation in Bio and Next-Generation Mobile Communications

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong (right) and Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, are posing for a commemorative photo at Verizon headquarters in New Jersey, USA.
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who embarked on a business trip to the United States for the first time in five years, initially focused on the bio and telecommunications sectors as he resumed global management.

According to industry sources on the 18th, Vice Chairman Lee visited the headquarters of Verizon, the world's largest mobile carrier, in New Jersey, USA, on the 17th (local time). There, he met with executives including Hans Vestberg, Verizon's CEO, to discuss cooperation plans in the next-generation mobile communications field. The day before, he met with Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of the board of Moderna, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bio and next-generation mobile communications are Samsung's "future growth businesses" that Vice Chairman Lee has decided to nurture intensively through large-scale investments. The fact that he met consecutively with key figures in these fields during his first visit to the U.S. in five years since 2016 is interpreted as his intention to accelerate the discovery and cultivation of Samsung's future growth engines.

Lee Jae-yong and Vestberg Maintain Over 10 Years of Friendship, Discuss Expanding Cooperation in Next-Generation Mobile Communications

Vice Chairman Lee and CEO Vestberg have maintained a friendship for over 10 years, starting from their simultaneous attendance at the 'Mobile World Congress' held in Spain in 2010, where Lee was Samsung Electronics Vice President and Vestberg was Chairman of the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson.

Currently, Verizon is one of Samsung Electronics' major clients. According to Samsung Electronics' recently disclosed quarterly report, Verizon is included among Samsung's top five major customers as of the third quarter of this year. In September last year, Samsung signed a contract to continuously supply network solutions, including 5G mobile communication equipment worth approximately 7.9 trillion KRW, to Verizon. This was the largest single export contract in the history of the Korean telecommunications equipment industry. It is known that Vice Chairman Lee played a key role in securing this deal by directly engaging in sales through a series of video conferences with CEO Vestberg.

The two companies have continuously cooperated, commercializing the world's first 5G home (5G FWA, Fixed Wireless Access) service in 2018, followed by the successful commercialization of 5G mobile communication services in 2019. Industry experts expect that following the large-scale 5G mobile communication solution supply contract signed last year, the two companies will expand cooperation in next-generation communication fields such as Beyond 5G and 6G, which are core infrastructures of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Vice Chairman Lee has led Samsung's pioneering efforts in the next-generation communication market, including the 5G communication equipment business. He has directly overseen all areas, from organizing dedicated teams and supporting research and development to marketing, to rapidly build Samsung Electronics' capabilities to lead the 5G era. He has also actively engaged with global ICT industry leaders, including Verizon, to support 5G network communication equipment sales both directly and indirectly.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong (left) and Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of the board of Moderna, are meeting and taking a commemorative photo in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

Visit to Moderna to Plan Creation of a 'Second Semiconductor Miracle'

The meeting between Vice Chairman Lee and Chairman Afeyan took place at the headquarters of Flagship Pioneering, a bio-investment company founded by Afeyan. The two reportedly discussed ▲recent cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines ▲future additional cooperation plans.

Chairman Afeyan is an industry leader who has discovered and nurtured innovative biotech companies through Flagship Pioneering, a bio-pharmaceutical investment company. He co-founded Moderna in 2009, and Moderna CEO St?phane Bancel was personally recruited by Chairman Afeyan. Previously, Vice Chairman Lee opened communication channels with CEO Bancel and other executives regarding Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine production and worked to build trust.

Vice Chairman Lee and CEO Bancel held a video conference in August, during which they built a trust relationship through successful vaccine production and discussed expanding cooperation across the bio industry in the mid to long term. Samsung Biologics signed a contract with Moderna in May to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and began production in August. Since last month, vaccines produced by Samsung have been shipped domestically and are being used nationwide in quarantine sites.

It is expected that Vice Chairman Lee will broaden his contacts with global bio companies following his meeting with Chairman Afeyan. In August, he announced a "post-COVID-19 future preparation" plan involving an investment of 240 trillion KRW over the next three years, expressing his vision to create a "second semiconductor miracle" in the bio industry.

Samsung has completed three contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) plants for bio-pharmaceuticals within nine years of starting its bio business. Once the fourth plant under construction is completed, Samsung will become the global leader in this field. In addition to bio-pharmaceuticals, Samsung plans to enter next-generation therapeutic CDMO sectors such as vaccines and cell and gene therapies, and particularly intends to invest in expanding and advancing its pipeline in the biosimilar field.

The business community views this trip as the start of Vice Chairman Lee's global efforts to concretize the plans he has been refining. Especially since Moderna and Verizon are companies recently strengthening business cooperation with Samsung, there is keen interest in whether the scope of collaboration will expand in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.