Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, second from right, attends an event with Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday. AP-Yonhap

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong met Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting between Xi and global business leaders in Beijing on Friday, as part of his ongoing China trip, triggering expectations that the tech giant will invest more in the country.

According to Xinhua and news agencies, Lee was among the participants of the high-profile meeting between Xi and executives of leading global companies, including Qualcomm, BMW, AstraZeneca, FedEx and Saudi Aramco. The meeting was a follow-up event for the China Development Forum held earlier this week.

The meeting was the latest in Beijing's efforts to ease foreign investors' concerns about China's economic durability and Xi's bid to strengthen ties with global companies in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's toughening tariff pressures.

While China has been responding to the U.S. through retaliatory tariffs and export controls on key minerals, it is at the same time emphasizing the country's commitment to openness to attract investment from global companies, including those from the U.S.

During the meeting, Xi told executives about the importance of maintaining the stability of global industrial and supply chains, saying he hopes the companies "will not blindly follow all kinds of behaviors that interfere with the safety and stability of the global industrial chain."

Whether Lee will respond to such a request is gaining attention. Throughout this week, Lee has stayed in China, meeting CEOs of BYD and Xiaomi at their respective electric vehicle (EV) plants.

On March 23, Lee met Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun at Xiaomi's EV plant in Beijing. Details of their talks remain unknown, but industry officials assume they were focused on Samsung Group's car component business, particularly in automobile semiconductors and panels.

On March 24, Lee also paid a visit to BYD's headquarters in Shenzen and met Wang Chuanfu, the chairman of the world's biggest EV maker. Their talks were also assumed to have focused on the two sides' partnerships on EV components.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, front row fourth from left, chats with other attendees before the opening ceremony for the China Development Forum at Diaoyutai Guesthouse in Beijing, March 23. Reuters-Yonhap

Lee has been highlighting car components as one of Samsung Group's future growth drivers. Currently, Samsung Electronics is manufacturing chips for automobiles, Harman International is providing advanced driver assist systems and Samsung Electro-Mechanics is producing advanced car capacitors. Samsung Display and Samsung SDI are each running vehicle OLED panels and the EV battery businesses.

It remains uncertain whether Lee's meetings will result in Samsung's investments in China or concrete partnership deals with Chinese EV makers, but industry officials said that Lee's recent moves show that China remains a critical market for Samsung despite the ongoing trade conflict between Washington and Beijing.

Samsung Electronics' China-bound export reached 65 trillion won ($44.3 billion) in 2024, outpacing that of the U.S. with 61 trillion won.

"In terms of Samsung's device businesses, such as smartphone and electronic appliances, Chinese firms have already dominated the domestic market," an official said. "However, the country still remains a critical market given Samsung's chip and other component businesses. For example, Xiaomi still remains an important client for Samsung's display and image sensor."

Xiaomi used Samsung Electronics' image sensors for its smartphones until the Xiaomi 12T smartphone was released in 2022. However, in 2023, the company rolled out the Xiaomi 13T, powered by image sensors of Leica and Sony.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong inspects the company's plant in Xi'an, China, in this May 18, 2020 photo. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Semiconductors are also important for Samsung's China business. Samsung Electronics is currently running a NAND memory plant in the city of Xi'an and a chip packaging plant in Suzhou. The Xi'an plant accounts for approximately 40 percent of Samsung Electronics' total NAND memory chip output.

During the company's March 19 annual meeting of shareholders, Jun Young-hyun, Samsung Electronics vice chairman of the chip division, said "China is one of the major markets." He added, "The Xi'an plant is extremely important for responding to local customers and supplying products to the Chinese market."

Chances are slim that the company will make a major investment into its Chinese chip plants as Samsung Electronics is facing restrictions on bringing new equipment into its China plants under the U.S. CHIPS Act, but an upgrade to facilities is possible because the regulation is now under a waiver.