Samsung boss Lee discusses cooperation with Meta, Amazon and Qualcomm

SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that its president met with the heads of Meta, Qualcomm and Amazon this week to discuss cooperation and that topics included artificial intelligence, cloud services and chips.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg invited Jay Y. Lee to his home on Tuesday and their discussions covered AI as well as virtual and augmented reality, Samsung said in a statement.

Lee also met with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon to discuss cooperation on semiconductors, including memory chips for Amazon’s data centers and cloud services, as well as manufacturing by chip contract for Qualcomm’s mobile processors, Samsung said.

The South Korean tech giant plans to hold a company-wide strategic meeting in late June, which will be informed by Lee’s discussions on cooperation with the three North American companies, he added.

Lee is on a two-week visit to the United States.

Samsung has lost ground compared to competitors in chips, especially high-end memory for AI, and the newly appointed head of its semiconductor division has called on the team to come together to overcome a series of challenges.

Amazon is a major customer of Samsung for chips and the two companies also work together in various fields such as TV, mobile devices and content.

Samsung’s high-end smartphones use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile processors, and the companies recently expanded their partnership to AI-enabled PCs.

Meta is also a Samsung chip customer and has worked with Samsung on the South Korean company’s Gear VR headset and foldable smartphones.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)