Rivals to partners? Samsung and Hyundai hold major networking event for key managers

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, right, and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Eui-sun speak during the San Francisco AI Summit in San Francisco, on July 24, 2026. (Yonhap)

The Samsung Group and Hyundai Group, two groups that have competed in the past over each other’s mainstay projects, are holding a first-ever large-scale networking event this week, with managers participating from major affiliates on both sides.

Observers read the event as a sign that the two groups — which had been at odds in the past under their conglomerate business approach of untrammeled expansion — are changing course toward a relationship of supply chain cooperation in an era of global competition.

According to an investigation of Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics on Sunday, Samsung Electronics was scheduled to hold an “Appreciation Day” event on Monday afternoon, inviting key managers from the Hyundai Group to its The UniverSE training center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

The event was reportedly to be attended by around 170 people, including managers from Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Group affiliates and their spouses. Designed to promote friendship through a performance viewing, dinner and other activities, it marks the first-ever large-scale networking event between the two groups.

The scheduled attendees from Samsung Electronics were to include Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun and CEO Roh Tae-moon, along with Samsung SDI President and CEO Choi Joo-sun, Samsung Electro-Mechanics President and CEO Chang Duck-hyun, and Samsung Display President and CEO Lee Cheong. From the Hyundai Group, Hyundai Motor CEO José Muñoz and Hyundai-Kia R&D Division President Manfred Harrer were scheduled to take part.

Lee Jae-yong and Chung Eui-sun, the respective chairs of Samsung Electronics and the Hyundai Group, were not scheduled to attend.

The reason the major networking event between the two groups is attracting attention has to do with their history of competition.

In 1983, the Hyundai Group followed Samsung Electronics into the semiconductor field with the establishment of Hyundai Electronics. The two companies competed in the memory semiconductor market, but while Hyundai Electronics acquired LG Semiconductors in 1999, it ended up shutting its business down in 2001 amid financial difficulties.

In 1995, Samsung began competing in one of Hyundai Motor’s mainstay areas when it established Samsung Motors under the leadership of then-Chairperson Lee Kun-hee. Even after financial problems led Samsung to abandon its automobile efforts in 1999, Hyundai Motor remained guarded toward Samsung, fearing the possibility that it might make a renewed attempt.

While there were examples of cooperation — including a 2009 agreement on the joint development of automobile semiconductors — they never expanded significantly into different fields.

The relationship between the two groups began shifting after a series of meetings by their leaders in 2020.

In May of that year, Chung, who was then executive vice chairperson of the Hyundai Group, visited Samsung SDI’s Cheonan campus to discuss solid-state batteries and other next-generation battery technology with Lee Jae-yong, who was vice chairperson of Samsung Electronics at the time.

Two months later, in July, Lee visited Hyundai Motor’s Namyang R&D Center to examine technology for future vehicles, including autonomous vehicles and hydrogen vehicles, and explore potential avenues for cooperation. The situation reflected a growing need for collaboration as the automobile market became more of a battleground.

From there, the two groups’ cooperation broadened beyond vehicle semiconductors into areas such as electric vehicle batteries and robotics. In 2023, Samsung Electronics announced plans to supply Hyundai Motor with the Exynos Auto V920 vehicle infotainment processor. That same year, Samsung SDI signed a first-ever long-term EV battery supply contract with Hyundai Motor.

The contract in question was for supplies of prismatic batteries for next-generation Hyundai Motor EVs targeting the European market for a seven-year period lasting from 2026 to 2032. Samsung SDI batteries were also reportedly included in the Kia EV2, the Hyundai Ioniq 3, and the Genesis GV90.

In February of last year, Samsung SDI and Hyundai-Kia signed a business agreement for the co-development of robot batteries.