According to Yonhap News Agency, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on May 10 to discuss future cooperation in high-tech industries. Yonhap said this hinted at a possible business partnership between the chipmaker and Tesla.

According to industry sources, Lee returned to the United States on Monday after a 22-day business trip. He also met with more than 20 chief executives of other global companies. IT House noted that the entrepreneurs, experts and scholars he met were mainly related to AI, semiconductors, next-generation communications, and biology.

Lee Jae-yong met Musk on Wednesday at Samsung's semiconductor research center in Silicon Valley, California, according to the company. It was also the first private meeting between Lee and Musk. Samsung and Tesla have been seeking cooperation to develop next-generation IT technologies including chips for fully self-driving cars, industry sources said.

Lee Jae-yong met Musk with Kyung Kyung-hyun, president of Samsung's Device solutions division, Choi Si-young, president of Samsung's contract manufacturing business, Han Jin-man, vice president of Samsung Electronics Americas, and Choi Ju-sun, president of Samsung Display. Tesla supply chain Vice President Karn Budilaghi, Tesla Chief Technology Officer Andrew Baglino (CTO) and others also attended the conference.

An industry source said, Samsung faces the challenge of nurturing its future potential business into a new powerhouse amid the sluggish global ICT market, adding, Chairman Lee made a breakthrough by visiting the global Internet East Sea to explore new business strategies at a critical juncture.