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Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong / Yonhap

By Kim Hyun-bin

Speculation is mounting that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will head to the U.S. during the "Chuseok" autumn harvest holidays from Sept. 9 to 12 to enhance semiconductor ties with the country, according to industry officials, Friday.

Fanning such forecasts is the fact that Lee has been expanding his management role over the electronics giant after receiving a presidential pardon earlier this month for a bribery and embezzlement conviction involving former President Park Geun-hye.

"There are no trials that are holding back Vice Chairman Lee during the Chuseok holidays, so there is a possibility he could utilize the opportunity for a business trip abroad," an industry source said.

Lee appears in court every Thursday as part of a trial on the charge of violating the Capital Market Act, which is related to a merger between subsidiaries Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, and once every three weeks on Friday, for a hearing regarding Samsung Biologics' alleged accounting fraud. However, the trial will not be held during the Chuseok holidays next month.

The U.S. is leading efforts to establish the so-called "Chip 4," a semiconductor supply chain consultative body to keep China in check, which has been dominating the global semiconductor supply chain.

As early as next week, a preliminary meeting is scheduled to begin for the launch of Chip 4 with the participation of the U.S., Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The situation is rapidly changing as the Korean government officially announced its participation in the Chip 4 preliminary meeting after a meeting between Foreign Minister Park Jin and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi earlier this month.

A specific time and place of the Chip 4 preliminary meeting have not yet been announced. However, if the decision is made to participate in Chip 4, Samsung Electronics is concerned that China, the largest market for computer chips, may turn its back on the conglomerate. Last year, Korea exported $128 billion worth of semiconductors and 39 percent or $50.2 billion of that amount headed to China. If Hong Kong is included, the ratio rises to 60 percent.

On the other hand, if Korea does not take part in Chip 4, the company will be shunned by the U.S, which has a large number of patent technologies for semiconductors. Some even raise concerns that, in the worst case, semiconductor production may be impossible if Samsung does not participate in the Chip 4 alliance. The four countries participating in the Chip 4 account for 80 percent of global semiconductor production.

Experts say it is thus natural for Lee to go to the U.S. and meet with political and other high-ranking figures to monitor the progress of discussions and seek responses by expressing opinions directly.

At the same time, there is speculation that Lee could attend the groundbreaking ceremony of Samsung Electronics' second foundry plant or choose to travel to the U.S. if chosen as President Yoon Suk-yeol's economic delegation to the UN General Assembly.

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