According to the Seoul Economics daily, on the afternoon of the 17th, during the summit between President Seok-yeol Yoon and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Jae-yong Lee, chairman of Samsung Electronics, will meet ASML CEO Peter Wennink. 

Chairman Choi also will meet Prime Minister Rutte. In a situation where competition in the semiconductor supply chain is intensifying, the leaders of Korea and the Netherlands and the heads of major semiconductor companies in both countries are expected to establish close cooperative relationships at the public-private level.

According to the political and business world, Chairman Choi will have a surprise meeting with CEO Bennink in Seoul this afternoon. It was confirmed that chairman Lee was also present at the meeting. 

At the same time, President Yun also holds a summit meeting with Prime Minister Rutte. It is understood that Chairman Choi will meet CEO Bennink as well as Prime Minister Rutte to discuss the semiconductor supply chain.

The reason why the heads of state of the two countries, Chairman Choi, Chairman Lee, and CEO Benningk are seeking public-private cooperation all at once is that securing key semiconductor equipment and parts has emerged as a top priority for the industry due to the recent intensifying war for global technological supremacy. 

In particular, on the part of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, cooperation with ASML which exclusively produces extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, which is a key equipment for advanced semiconductor processes, is essential for survival.

Chairman Choi and Chairman Lee are expected to meet with Prime Minister Rutte and CEO Benningck on the same day to ask for cooperation in EUV equipment and cooperation in supply chains between countries. In the case of Chairman Lee, he had already met Prime Minister Ruther and CEO Benningk in turn during a business trip to Europe last June.

On the 16th, CEO Benningk attended the groundbreaking ceremony for ASML's Hwaseong cluster 'New Campus' and announced a 240 billion won investigation in public. At a press conference on the 15th, the day before the groundbreaking ceremony, he showed off his friendship with Chairman Lee, saying, “We are also reviewing plans to build R&D and production facilities for Korea in the future.”

President Yoon is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Rutte and CEO Bennink on the same day to bring about a plan for bilateral semiconductor cooperation.

Meanwhile, Chairman Lee and Chairman Choi are scheduled to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul from 6 to 7 pm on the same day to discuss ways to win orders for Neom City.

BK Min, KDFN kdf@kdfnews.com
 

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