Samsung chief meets MediaTek CEO in Taiwan to explore foundry ties

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong traveled to Taiwan on Thursday to meet with MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai, exploring a potential manufacturing partnership as Samsung works to expand its foundry business amid soaring demand for artificial intelligence chips, the Korea Times reported.

The high-level meeting reflects Samsung's push to win over major fabless chipmakers — firms that design semiconductors without owning fabrication plants — as it competes with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for manufacturing contracts fueled by the global artificial intelligence boom.

Lee's visit comes after Samsung secured foundry orders from Tesla and Qualcomm, building momentum in its bid to challenge TSMC, which currently manufactures chips for MediaTek, according to the Korea Times.

Fabless firms design semiconductors without owning fabrication facilities, while foundries like Samsung and TSMC handle the physical manufacturing of those chips, the Korea Times explained.

The meeting also aimed to reassure global partners in the wake of a last-minute labor union agreement at Samsung that narrowly averted potential supply chain disruptions, the Korea Times reported.

Samsung's outreach to MediaTek underscores the company's broader effort to capture new business as chip demand from the artificial intelligence industry continues to climb.

Whether MediaTek will shift any chip production from TSMC to Samsung remains uncertain, but the chairman-level meeting signals Samsung's intent to compete more aggressively for foundry clients as the artificial intelligence hardware race intensifies.