China encourages Samsung to invest more in the country

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday told Samsung Electronics (OTCPK:SSNLF) Chairman Jay Lee that China welcomed additional investment by the company, Reuters reported citing state news agency Xinhua.

The meeting in Seoul between Li and the company executive came ahead of a summit which would see Li, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in three-way talk which would happen for the first time in more than four years, the report added.

In the last six years, Samsung has invested $24B in the Chinese market, a company executive was quoted as saying in a November report by state-run China Daily.

China has established a 344B yuan ($47.5B) investment fund to boost its semiconductor industry. China’s push for self-sufficiency comes on the heels of the U.S. and its allies, including the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Japan, tightening curbs on the Asian country’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, including those used for making artificial intelligence, or AI, products.

Li’s choice to meet with a Samsung executive was in-line with the remarks the Chinese Premier gave during a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon, where he encouraged more Korean companies to invest and do business in China and requested the two countries to cooperate on maintaining the stability of industrial supply chains, the report added.

More on Samsung