Biden and Yoon are shown around a South Korean chip factory by Lee, who is the CEO of Samsung.
Seoul (Reuters) A court spokesperson said that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to a semiconductor plant in South Korea after he was let out of the accounting fraud trial on Friday. to
Lee was with Vice President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-year when they met at the world’s largest semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside of Seoul.
It was Lee’s most important public appearance since he got out on parole last August after being convicted of bribery.
The Samsung (KS:005930) chip production complex in Pyeongtaek, which is 2.89 million square meters or 400 football fields, has two production lines for DRAM and NAND flash memory chips as well as chip contract manufacturing. A third line will be finished this year.
According to semiconductor industry sources, further lines are planned.
Biden toured P3, the largest of the three manufacturing lines, which is planned to create 14-nanometer DRAM chips used in servers and other technological equipment, as well as 5-nanometer logic chips.
According to the live video, Lee was seen describing the facility to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and watching as Biden was informed on the manufacturing floor by personnel wearing blue protective gear.
Since Lee’s release on parole, Samsung has undertaken significant changes, including locating its new $17 billion chip facility in Taylor, Texas, integrating its mobile and consumer electronics divisions, and naming new co-CEOs in its largest reorganization since 2017.
Lee’s absence from court is quite uncommon. Documents from the court show that he has been to every session of a separate trial for more than a year. He is accused of accounting fraud related to the $8 billion merger of two Samsung subsidiaries in 2015.
As witnesses’ testimony can be recorded, the Seoul Central District Court agreed to Lee’s request not to go to the hearing on Friday, even though he was supposed to be there to protect his right to defend himself.
