Lee Jae-yong and Chung Eui-sun Met: "From Samsung-Hyundai Motor Competition to Cooperation"

Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun of Hyundai Motor Group met privately for business purposes for the first time, raising expectations that the relationship between Samsung Group and Hyundai Motor Group will be reset. Analysts suggest that the two groups, which have fiercely competed and grown in various fields, will now focus more on mutual cooperation rather than competition.

According to the business community on the 13th, Vice Chairman Lee and Executive Vice Chairman Chung are known to be close enough to call each other by nicknames in private. However, this is their first official business meeting alone. It is also the first time Executive Vice Chairman Chung has visited a Samsung business site. This is understood to be unprecedented even between the previous heads, Chairman Lee Kun-hee of Samsung Electronics and Chairman Chung Mong-koo of Hyundai Motor Group.

Samsung and Hyundai Motor have competed for the top two ranks in the business world for over 70 years since liberation, competing in various fields. Although their current main businesses differ significantly?electronics for Samsung and automobiles for Hyundai?Samsung has past experience in the automobile business, and Hyundai has been involved in electronics and semiconductor businesses.

While competing in their core businesses, the two companies fiercely checked each other around the 1990s, and the then heads, Chairman Lee and Chairman Chung, did not have official meetings separately.

The relationship between Samsung Group’s founder Honorary Chairman Lee Byung-chul and Hyundai Group’s founder Honorary Chairman Chung Ju-yung is said to have been similar. The two honorary chairmen, who had very different personalities and management styles, reportedly had little private friendship.

However, in the 2000s, as the main businesses of the two companies clearly reorganized into electronics and automobiles and technology rapidly advanced, the need for cooperation increased, which is believed to have led to this meeting.

In particular, for Samsung Electronics, a significant portion of future growth engines such as semiconductors, displays, batteries, and automotive electronics go into finished vehicles, making Hyundai Motor one of its very important clients. Executive Vice Chairman Chung’s visit to Samsung SDI’s Cheonan plant, which specializes in small batteries and automotive batteries, is for this reason.

A source in the business community said, "Samsung and Hyundai Motor have been competitors rather than partners for decades," adding, "But this meeting greatly increases the possibility that the two companies will shift from competition to cooperation."