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Lee Jae-yong speaks with CEO and CTO of ASML

Published: 15 Jun. 2022, 20:00

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, speaks with ASML’s CEO Peter Wennink at the headquarters of ASML in the Netherlands. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with high-ranking officials at semiconductor equipment supplier ASML in the Netherlands to ensure the stable supply of next-generation chip processing technology, the company announced on Wednesday.

The meeting, held at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Eindhoven on Tuesday, brought together Lee, Kyung Kye-hyun, head of semiconductor business at Samsung, ASML’s CEO Peter Wennink, and CTO Martin van den Brink.

The main subject of the discussion was the supply of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment — used in a manufacturing process that can print nodes of less than 10 nanometers in width — and ways to optimize the process.

ASML is the world’s only producer of EUV lithography machines.

Lee visited the Dutch company two years ago to touch upon the same issue.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, right, poses with Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, on Tuesday. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

The meeting follows a meeting with Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, the same day to discuss ways to ease supply disruptions in the chip industry.

"Samsung Electronics will enhance competitiveness in foundry and solidify technical supremacy in memory chip sector through firm cooperation with ASML and an increase in investment into research and development," the company said in a statement.

He left for Belgium on Wednesday to visit IMEC, a chip and nanoelectronics research institution.

Before he flew to the Netherlands, Lee and Samsung SDI CEO Choi Yoon-ho visited Germany. Local reports said this may have been to attract orders from German automakers.

The reports said that Lee and the CEO of the battery maker met with Oliver Zipse, chairman of the management board of BMW, but a spokesperson at Samsung Electronics denied the reports.

"Vice Chairman Lee has meeting with different people from our existing clients and partner companies," the spokesperson said, adding that the BMW Chairman was not one of them.

Samsung Electronics executives have been discussing the possibility of the company making a large acquisition, and some companies in Europe are of the right size and could be targets.

The companies include Eindhoven, the Netherlands-based NXP and Germany's Infenion.

The possibility of Lee going to Britain to discuss buying a stake in Arm, which owns key processor technology, was dismissed by the company.

"He won't visit Britain and will return to Korea with a layover in France," the spokesperson said.

Samsung owns a 1.5 percent stake in ASML as of the end of last year in what it calls a "strategic partnership."

Lee departed Seoul on June 7 and is scheduled to return on June 18.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [[email protected]]