Samsung, Apple chiefs to attend China Development Forum

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong is visiting China to attend the China Development Forum where Apple CEO Tim Cook is also reportedly present, according to sources.

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

The meeting will run under the theme of "Economic Recovery: Opportunities and Cooperation", focusing on "opportunities in the Chinese market, stabilisation of global industrial chains, and green transition", according to the organiser, 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 was 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 US 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 per cent of Samsung's global NAND flash production.

In Suzhou, the chipmaker operates a semiconductor packaging factory.