Samsung boss meets China's Xi Jinping to discuss business

After being declared not guilty by the South Korean courts, Samsung boss Jay Y. Lee has been on several business trips overseas. Currently, Lee is in China to meet with the country's president, Xi Jinping, and the bosses of prominent Chinese tech brands to discuss business.

According to a report from Yonhap News, Samsung Electronics chairman Jay Y. Lee is currently in China. He attended the China Development Forum (CDF) earlier this week, which was held around 11 AM. At this event, Chinese President Xi Jinping was present alongside CEOs and top-level executives of several global technology firms.

If you don't know already, Samsung has a semiconductor chip plant in China's Xi'an, where it produces NAND flash chips. The plant contributes 40% of the company's total NAND flash chip production. The company is reportedly planning to upgrade this facility to start the production of 286-layer NAND flash (V9) chips to fend off competition from Chinese firm YMTC, which recently started making 294-layer NAND flash chips.

Hot on the heels of additional US tariffs imposed on China, Xi Jinping reportedly said China “was, is, and will be” a safe and prominent investment destination for foreign companies. He said the global free-trade system is facing “severe challenges” and hinted that China will respond to the US tariffs under the principles of mutual interest and cooperation.

During this trip, Lee met Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and visited the Chinese firm's electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility in Beijing. Samsung's chief also visited BYD's headquarters in Shenzhen to improve the automobile parts partnership. BYD is the world's biggest and most impressive EV firm and has recently showcased some remarkable technologies.