Chairman Lee Jae-yong: "ASML Visit Accelerated by Joining President's Main Group... Semiconductor Industry Will Change"

Chairman Lee Visits ASML During President Yoon's State Visit "Can Bring Change to Semiconductor Industry"
Business Leaders Accompany for 'Sales Diplomacy' Success... President Yoon Supports MOUs by Engaging Entrepreneurs on Every Trip

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, after visiting ASML, the world's number one semiconductor lithography equipment company, last week, reportedly expressed that joining the presidential entourage made the ASML visit smoother. Accompanying President Yoon Suk-yeol on his state visit, Lee entered the cleanroom together and remarked, "This could bring changes to the semiconductor industry." This also serves as evidence that President Yoon's 'sales diplomacy,' which involves accompanying business leaders on overseas trips, is helping companies with their global management.

According to related industry sources on the 17th, after completing all schedules at ASML headquarters on the 12th (local time) with President Yoon, Chairman Lee told his close aides, "This was my 10th visit to ASML headquarters, but joining the presidential entourage and being properly escorted allowed me to arrive at the headquarters this quickly for the first time." On that day, President Yoon visited ASML headquarters together with Chairman Lee and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, holding meetings with Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML; Benjamin Loh, CEO of ASM, which produces deposition equipment; and Luc Van den Hove, CEO of the research institute IMEC, and attended the signing ceremony for three MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding).

President Yoon Suk-yeol, on a state visit to the Netherlands, is putting on a cleanroom suit on the 12th (local time) before touring the 'cleanroom' at ASML headquarters in Veldhoven, accompanied by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and others, guided by Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML. From left: Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, President Yoon, ASML CEO Peter Wennink, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This visit was also President Yoon's first corporate visit during an overseas trip. President Yoon requested ASML, saying, "I hope you will contribute to semiconductor innovation and the stabilization of the global supply chain through close cooperation with Korean companies." On the same day, ASML signed an MOU to establish a 'Next-Generation Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology R&D Center' in Korea, jointly developing ultra-fine processes based on next-generation EUV with an investment of 1 trillion KRW together with Samsung Electronics.

In particular, Chairman Lee said, "We have seen many pieces of equipment before," but added, "I think this could bring changes to the semiconductor industry." Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division, who returned with Chairman Lee, previewed the MOU by saying, "We will build a joint research center in Dongtan," and "Samsung Electronics and ASML engineers will develop high NA EUV equipment technology at the joint research center." This indicates that Samsung has secured technological priority for high NA EUV, which will provide an opportunity to use high NA EUV more easily in the long term for DRAM or logic semiconductor processes.

Chairman Lee also shared his impressions of the ASML visit with his close aides. Although he had visited ASML more than ten times before, joining the presidential entourage made the on-site visit smoother, saying, "This is the first time I have been properly escorted and arrived at the headquarters this quickly." Only four people from the Korean side, including President Yoon, Chairman Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Trade Negotiations Director Ahn Deok-geun, visited the cleanroom that day.

Ultimately, President Yoon's 'sales diplomacy' can be interpreted as providing practical help to companies. Accompanying economic delegations on every overseas trip, President Yoon supports the process of signing contracts and MOUs between governments and companies, as well as between companies themselves, and arranges meetings between high-ranking officials of foreign governments and representatives of Korean companies. It is known that during local lunches and dinners, he even yields his seat to provide opportunities for company representatives to make contacts.

Regarding the opposition party's statement the day before that the ASML-Samsung R&D center construction was a repackaging of an existing project, the presidential office immediately rebutted, saying, "This is completely untrue." The presidential office pointed out that "the 1 trillion KRW R&D center construction between ASML and Samsung, which was finalized this time, is a completely separate matter from the existing investment project," and noted that the investment project mentioned in the Democratic Party's commentary held a groundbreaking ceremony in November last year and is currently under construction. This was a direct rebuttal to the Democratic Party's statement the day before, which claimed that the ASML Korea R&D center construction was a project already attracted through a 2021 MOU with Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi Province.

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