November 25, 2024

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Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong (center back) poses with executives and employees working at the tech giant's Indian operations in Mumbai on Saturday. (Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong inspected Indian operations in Mumbai over the weekend, following his attendance at the wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, according to the Korean tech giant Sunday.

“Let’s make history with a fierce competitive spirit and urgency,” Lee was quoted as saying during his meeting with local employees.

His four-day visit to India comes as Samsung is pouring resources into the market to secure a bigger presence. India boasts a population of 1.44 billion, surpassing China as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Having entered the market in 1995, Samsung currently stands as the nation's largest seller of smartphones and TVs. It also operates smartphone and appliance production plants there, hiring some 180,000 workers locally.

India plays a key role in Samsung's talent pool, with its abundance of skilled scientists and engineers. Its research centers across the nation, in close collaboration with the Seoul headquarters, contribute to developing core functions for Samsung’s flagship products.

The research center in Bengaluru, in particular, helps integrate Hindi, spoken by about 600 million people, into Galaxy AI, the company’s new artificial intelligence feature for mobile devices.

Samsung has maintained the No. 1 position in TV sales in India since 2017, while it reclaimed the top smartphone maker title in 2023 in six years, outpacing Chinese rivals such as Vivo and Xiaomi.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani, who invited Lee to the wedding, has a net worth of $116 billion, making him the wealthiest tycoon in India and the ninth in the world, according to Forbes. His net worth has more than quadrupled from $21 billion in 2015 to $116 billion this year.

Ambani's Reliance Industries is India's largest company, employing some 376,000 people across petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecommunications and retail and financial services, with an annual revenue of $119 billion.

Lee previously attended the wedding celebrations of Ambani's eldest daughter, Isha Ambani, in December 2018 and his eldest son, Akash Ambani, in March 2019.

The Ambani family weddings draw global attention as networking events for entrepreneurs and influential politicians.

Saturday's wedding was reportedly attended by Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker, Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet, HP CEO Enrique Lores, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, FIFA President Gianni Infantino add many other global figures.

By Kim Hae-yeon (hykim@heraldcorp.com)