Samsung chair Lee Jae-yong has extended a billionaire charm offensive, hosting Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani for talks over deepening the relationship between two of the region’s most powerful conglomerates, Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Ambani, chair of India’s Reliance Industries, visited Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul where he tested new gadgets, including an augmented reality headset and cutting-edge display panels
Lee has been holding a series of high-profile meetings as he seeks to keep his company in a strong position for the global artificial intelligence build-out. In October, he met Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and Hyundai chair Chung Eui-sun at a fried chicken restaurant in Seoul to discuss AI factories.
Earlier that month, he met OpenAI’s Sam Altman to talk about building data centres and providing next-generation memory chips. “We expect to strengthen our co-operation with Reliance in supplying 6G network equipment, building AI data centres and providing (energy storage system) batteries for stable energy supply of data centres,” said Samsung
Reliance is expanding into the IT sector from its existing chemical and retail-focused businesses and has recently launched a subsidiary to develop AI infrastructure and data centres in India in partnership with Alphabet and Meta.
Samsung has a strong presence in the country, where it manufactures smartphones and home appliances and supplies network equipment. The group has kept close relations with Reliance since Lee’s father and former chair Lee Kun-hee controlled the company.
In 2012, Samsung won a deal to build a 4G network in India for Reliance’s Jio, India’s biggest mobile operator with more than 500 million subscribers. Their co-operation expanded in December 2022, when Samsung signed another contract with Reliance to supply 5G network equipment.
Alphabet and Meta, along with private equity firms KKR and General Atlantic and sovereign wealth funds, have ploughed billions into Jio, which is expected to list next year.