'Wider Room to Maneuver'... Will Lee Jae-yong Meet Jensen Huang in March?

As the shackles of 'judicial risk' are lifted, the semiconductor industry is on high alert over whether Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong will meet with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Some voices speculate that they might meet at 'GTC 2025,' hosted by Nvidia in San Jose, California, USA, from the 17th to the 21st of next month (local time). GTC is the world's largest artificial intelligence (AI) developer conference, where last year Samsung Electronics showcased samples of its 12-layer High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) 3E products and obtained Huang CEO's autograph on site.

According to business circles and the semiconductor industry on the 4th, Chairman Lee closely examined the company's performance reports by business sector until just before the second trial verdict of the 'unfair merger and accounting fraud' case was announced the previous day, and planned this year's management direction. In particular, the semiconductor business's performance fell short of expectations, leading to widespread assessments that a decisive move to reverse the situation was necessary. It is also presumed that Chairman Lee, after reviewing the results, felt the necessity of such a move. Accordingly, the industry places weight on the possibility that Chairman Lee will meet with CEO Huang to resolve issues related to HBM, which the company is targeting for supply, and to reestablish a cooperative relationship.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is answering reporters' questions as he returns to Korea through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center (SGBAC) in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 7th after a business trip to the Paris Olympics. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

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If the meeting between Chairman Lee and CEO Huang takes place next month, it will be the first in 1 year and 10 months. The two last met in May 2023 at a Japanese restaurant called 'Sawasushi' in Silicon Valley, USA, and have not met face-to-face since. Movement restrictions due to judicial risk were significant. Chairman Lee faced difficulties in pursuing global management activities while undergoing prosecution and court trials for the 'unfair merger and accounting fraud' case for about 4 years and 5 months. Since trials were held once or twice a week after indictment, it was difficult to go on long business trips. The short duration of business trips made it awkward to arrange meetings with key figures. The long-awaited US trip was only possible in June last year, after the first trial acquittal and before the second trial began, when the situation eased considerably.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Chairman Lee had no opportunity to meet CEO Huang due to various circumstances. Although several attempts to arrange a meeting were considered, it did not materialize because their schedules did not align. It is also rumored that during Chairman Lee's US trip in June last year, the meeting failed because CEO Huang had other commitments.

However, with the acquittal in the second trial of the 'unfair merger and accounting fraud' case the previous day, Chairman Lee is now free to travel abroad. With the obstacle of trial schedules removed, he can now enjoy sufficient flexibility in arranging business trips and meetings. In this favorable situation, attention is focused on whether Chairman Lee will now actively seek to meet CEO Huang.

CEO Huang has emerged as the undisputed key figure in the global AI chip market, making a meeting essential for Chairman Lee to check market trends and hear about Nvidia's future plans. There is also room to exchange ideas on AI semiconductor development and broadly discuss cooperation plans. In particular, inside and outside the company, there is hope for a decisive negotiation regarding HBM supply issues. Samsung Electronics' 8-layer product of the 5th generation HBM, HBM3E, reportedly passed Nvidia's quality test (Qualtest) and received delivery approval at the end of last year, but the 12-layer HBM3E product is still undergoing Qualtest. Passing this procedure is necessary before discussions on the future 6th generation HBM4 supply can proceed, so Samsung Electronics is putting its life on this issue.

During the Qualtest process, it is reported that Younghyun Jeon, Vice Chairman and head of the Device Solutions (DS) division, along with some Samsung Electronics developers, met several times with CEO Huang and other Nvidia executives to exchange opinions on product improvements and development directions. However, many in the industry point out that Chairman Lee must personally step in to finalize the delivery. A semiconductor industry insider said, "From a business perspective, it is appropriate for Chairman Lee to meet CEO Huang. Nvidia and CEO Huang have likely had considerable dissatisfaction about this in the past." He added, "Looking at the case of SK Hynix, it is the same context that Chairman Chey Tae-won meets CEO Huang directly every time rather than CEO Kwak No-jung."

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