Samsung's Lee Jae-yong Appears at Sun Valley Summit, Targets Orders from Apple, Amazon, and OpenAI

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong appeared at this year's Sun Valley Summit alongside the head of its foundry business, turning the annual gathering of global technology and business elites into an intensive campaign for orders. At a critical juncture where TSMC's capacity is nearing saturation and Samsung is accelerating its advancement in cutting-edge process nodes, the composition of his delegation clearly signaled one message: Samsung has listed breakthroughs in its foundry business as its top priority.

According to industry sources in South Korea, Lee arrived at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho, USA, on July 7 and immediately commenced his meeting schedule.

Unlike last year, when he attended with the global marketing head, this time he brought Han Jin-man, who was appointed head of the Foundry Business Division just late last year. This personnel change is interpreted by outsiders as Samsung shifting its focus from brand networking to substantive business negotiations. Han previously oversaw semiconductor operations in North America and possesses deep connections in the U.S. tech circle, making him a key figure for securing major clients.

The summit gathered tech titans such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and incoming CEO John Ternus, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as Arm CEO Rene Haas and General Motors Chair Mary Barra. These companies all have existing or potential cooperative relationships with Samsung, providing a highly concentrated window for Lee's business talks.

Apple Processor Orders Become the Biggest Highlight

The most watched aspect of this summit was the potential progress in cooperation between Samsung and Apple.

Apple sent a rare three-person delegation: current CEO Tim Cook, incoming CEO John Ternus (who will officially take office on September 1), and Senior Vice President of Services Andy Jue, all appearing at Sun Valley simultaneously.

Samsung's foundry division secured an order for Apple's image sensor chips last August and is now seeking a larger breakthrough—returning to the supply chain for iPhone application processors (APs).

These processors are currently exclusively manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor. According to previous reports from Bloomberg, Apple executives held discussions with Samsung last month regarding main processor foundry services, bringing this possibility to the forefront.

Analysts pointed out that if the Apple processor order ultimately materializes, Samsung will capture part of the core capacity from Taiwan Semiconductor, substantially boosting the market position of its foundry business.

Amazon and OpenAI: Greater Potential Beyond HBM

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both appeared at Sun Valley, and both maintain regular contact with Lee Jae-yong.

Currently, Amazon and OpenAI are existing customers of Samsung's High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and are also potential clients for Samsung's foundry services.

Both companies are actively developing their own AI chips to reduce reliance on NVIDIA.

Against the backdrop of continued capacity constraints at Taiwan Semiconductor, Samsung, with its expanding 2nm advanced process production, is seen as an alternative manufacturing partner capable of absorbing spillover orders. This summit provided Samsung with an opportunity to expand foundry business negotiations on top of its existing HBM supply cooperation.

Arm and General Motors: Consolidating Existing Allies

The attendance of Arm CEO Rene Haas created conditions for Lee to meet with this long-term partner.

Samsung Electronics has optimized its advanced processes based on Arm's design assets for over a decade, establishing a deep technical alliance. Haas participated in a tripartite talk with Lee, SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son, and Sam Altman at Samsung's Seoul headquarters last February to jointly discuss AI strategic layouts.

Additionally, General Motors Chair Mary Barra, whose company collaborates with Samsung SDI in the automotive battery sector, also attended the summit, providing an occasion for further exchanges on automotive business.

Google Chief Business Officer Philip Schindler and Meta Vice Chair Dina Powell McCormick also appeared at Sun Valley, making Lee's business schedule even more packed.

Sun Valley: The Most Important Business Trip of the Year

Hosted annually in July by the U.S. investment bank Allen & Company, the Sun Valley Summit gathers approximately 300 top leaders from the technology, media, finance, and automotive sectors. Known as the "Billionaires' Summer Camp," it serves as a private forum for discussing strategic directions.

This year's summit was scheduled from July 7 to 10. Notably, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk did not attend this year.

Lee Jae-yong has described the Sun Valley Summit as the "busiest business trip of the year," and this marks his second consecutive year attending.

At a time when Samsung's foundry business faces fierce competition from Taiwan Semiconductor and urgently needs to expand its base of high-end clients, the commercial value of this summit for Samsung extends far beyond mere socializing.