Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong embarked on a trip to Washington on Tuesday, in an apparent move to give support to the South Korean government's ongoing tariff negotiation with the Donald Trump administration.

Lee, who arrived at Gimpo International Airport at around 3:50 p.m., kept mum when reporters inquired about the purpose of his visit to the U.S.

Lee's trip has raised speculation that Seoul may propose to expand South Korean investment in the American semiconductor industry or technological cooperation in the area of cutting-edge artificial intelligence(AI) chips.
 
Samsung currently operates a semiconductor foundry in Austin, Texas, and construction is underway on another plant in Taylor, less than an hour's drive from the state capital.

The South Korean tech giant also plans to invest 37 billion U.S. dollars until 2030 in order to establish a semiconductor production base in America.

On Monday, Samsung and Tesla signed a semiconductor foundry deal worth 22-point-eight trillion won, or around 16-point-five billion dollars, to manufacture Tesla's next-generation A16 chip at its new semiconductor plant in Texas.