Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong Reportedly Slipped Into Taiwan to Steal MediaTek as a Foundry Client from TSMC

Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong reportedly visited Taiwan on May 21 to meet MediaTek CEO Cai Lixing.

The goal was to persuade MediaTek to become a Samsung foundry customer, potentially with incentives tied to Samsung memory chips.

The move is part of Samsung’s broader push to win more advanced chip orders and compete more directly with TSMC.

If successful, it could weaken TSMC’s hold on major customers such as MediaTek and boost Samsung’s high-end foundry business.