Samsung's Lee visits growth driver MLCC China plant

Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Jay Y. Lee has chosen Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co.'s new multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) plant in Tianjin as the destination of his first visit to Samsung's Chinese operations in three years.

On March 24, Lee toured the production complex of Samsung affiliates in Tianjin, including the new MLCC manufacturing plant of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. which came online in 2021, Samsung said on Sunday.

It was his first visit to a Samsung factory in China in three years since his tour of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor plant in Xi’an in the early months of the global COVID-19 outbreak in May 2020.

Demonstrating the electronics giant’s efforts to nurture MLCCs as a new growth engine, Lee visited shortly after he flew to China to attend the March 25-27 China Development Forum (CDF). CDF is an annual international conference for high-level business leaders.

MLCCs control the flow of electricity to provide power to semiconductors used in electric vehicles and autonomous driving systems. They are in strong demand thanks to rapid growth in the EV and self-driving car markets.

About 20,000 MLCCs are embedded in a typical EV. By comparison, a combustion engine car is installed with between 3,000 and 10,000 MLCCs for power transfer, driving and infotainment systems.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been making aggressive inroads into the MLCC market. It built its second MLCC plant in Tianjin in 2018.

The Tianjin complex will focus on churning out MLCCss, while Samsung's Busan plant in southern Korea is dedicated to developing and producing sophisticated core parts of MLCCs.

Tianjin also hosts Samsung Electronics’ camera module plant; Samsung Display Co.’s factory of OLED display modules used for smartphones; and Samsung SDI’s rechargeable battery plant to supply to smart gadget and EV makers.

In both 2020 and 2022, Lee visited the Busan MLCC complex and noted the importance of the automotive components as a strategic business.

At the CDF, Lee met with high-ranking Chinese government officials and business leaders, including Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.

Ahead of his visit to the MLCC complex in Tianjin, he held gatherings with employees of other Samsung Group units, including Samsung Display and Samsung SDI in the Chinese city.

The last leg of his trip to China will be a formal meeting with Li Qiang, the new premier of the State Council of China, or He Lifeng, the vice premier in charge of economic, financial and industrial affairs.

Write to Sungsu Bae and Hyun-Woo Kang at baebae@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article