Samsung, Apple chiefs to attend China Development Forum

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong is currently in China to attend the China Development Forum, according to sources Friday.

Lee arrived in Beijing on Thursday to attend the high-profile annual forum, slated to run at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse from Saturday till Monday.

The meeting will run under the theme of “Economic Recovery: Opportunities and Cooperation,” focusing on “opportunities in the Chinese market, stabilization of global industrial chains, and green transition,” according to the organizer, the Development Research Center of China’s State Council.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourlaother and Ola Kallenius, Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s chairman, are reportedly among the attendees.

During his visit, Lee is expected to meet with global and Chinese CEOs and high-ranking Chinese government officials.

The forum will take place amid mounting tension between Washington and Beijing after the U.S. government earlier this week released national security guardrails for its Chips Act, limiting business activities of chipmakers receiving federal subsidies to block China from getting access to key chip technologies.

Samsung, the world’s largest memory chip maker, runs a chip manufacturing plant in the Chinese city of Xian, which is responsible for some 40 percent of Samsung’s global NAND flash production. In Suzhou, the chipmaker operates a semiconductor packaging factory. Yonhap