Lee Jae-yong calls for expanded production facilities; president says 'there's plenty of land to the south'

President tours flexible OLED and other Samsung displays in Asan

HBM, advanced packaging among Samsung products and technologies showcased

President Lee Jae Myung tries on AR glasses at the Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision public briefing held in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday toured an exhibition of products and technologies from Samsung Display, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Samsung SDI, with a focus on HBM — the key memory chip for AI semiconductors — as well as advanced packaging and battery technology.

At a display of semiconductor package substrates for AI data center servers, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong said expanding production facilities would be necessary to meet growing demand and raised the need to secure a factory site in Sejong. President Lee responded, "Land is the issue, then," adding, "There's plenty down south."

Cheong Wa Dae Deputy Spokesperson An Gwi-ryeong said in a written briefing that the president toured the Samsung exhibition set up at the entrance to the event venue alongside Chairman Lee, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jeon Young-hyun and Samsung Display President Lee Cheong, ahead of the Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision public briefing held at Samsung Display's Asan Campus 2 in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.

The president first examined future display technologies featuring flexible OLED panels. An said Lee watched a Korean national flag rendered on an ultra-thin, flexible OLED panel ripple as if it were a real flag and remarked, "The era I used to imagine has become reality."

He then tried a glasses-free 3D display and received an explanation of how the technology tracks the viewer's eye position in real time to render images.

The president also viewed a cylindrical display and a stretchable display. An said he personally stretched the stretchable display — which expands freely from a flat surface into a three-dimensional form — and listened closely to explanations of how the technology works and its potential applications.

After examining a privacy display that blocks the screen from side-on viewing, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik remarked, "Assembly members will use this a lot." The president quipped, "I wasn't allowed to use my phone on the floor of the plenary chamber."

President Lee Jae Myung listens to Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong while viewing a semiconductor-related exhibit at the Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision public briefing in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Outside, the president showed strong interest in an AR glasses demo unit equipped with OLEDoS capable of delivering augmented reality in outdoor settings, watching content through the device and asking questions about how it adjusts for vision correction.

The tour continued with an exhibition of in-vehicle displays for the autonomous driving era. After hearing that displays are growing in importance as vehicles evolve into living spaces, Lee tried out a digital cockpit firsthand, taking a seat in the driver's position to explore a slidable display and privacy features.

The president then examined advanced packaging technology used in producing HBM chips. An said Lee asked for a repeat demonstration of the key process steps and showed a grasp of the production process by referencing the photolithography and etching stages.

"At the battery technology exhibition, the president viewed batteries for energy storage systems and electric vehicles and exchanged views on the future energy industry," An said.

After hearing about the role of energy storage systems, Lee said, "People ask how solar power works at dawn when the sun isn't out — ultimately, storage is the key. This is also a new core industry."

On solid-state batteries, the president asked a series of questions about how they differ from conventional batteries, their safety and their production costs. Told that production costs run about five times higher than those of conventional batteries, Lee said, "If battery safety is critically important in a given application, isn't it worth using even if it costs a bit more?" He added, "If we develop the demand, couldn't production costs gradually come down?" An said Lee showed strong interest in the technology's economic viability and potential for commercialization.

President Lee Jae Myung signs a guest book after completing his tour of the exhibition at the Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision public briefing in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Following the exhibition tour, the president marked the launch of mass production of 8.6th-generation IT OLED panels — the world's first investment in such a line. Connected via a live feed to the production floor, Lee greeted the engineers on screen, saying, "To the cutting-edge engineers at a cutting-edge company leading Korea's economy — it's truly great to meet you. I hear you're starting something new today. I hope you can work happily and safely."

He then pressed the "START" button on a countdown cue, feeding the first glass substrate into the production line and formally marking the beginning of mass production of the world's first 8.6th-generation IT OLED line.

After completing the tour, President Lee signed the guest book on a Samsung-produced display panel, writing: "Samsung's innovation, Chungcheong's challenge — an irreplaceable Korea, fighting!" An said.

moone@heraldcorp.com