Lee Jae-yong tours Abu Dhabi plant site as Samsung slides 4.03%

On Wednesday, local time, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong was in Abu Dhabi, where he walked through the building site of Al Dhafra, a gas-fired power plant, according to The Korea Times. He reviewed how far construction had come, toured the main facilities and met Samsung staff posted in the Middle East, the outlet reported.

Samsung shares fell 4.03% in Seoul on Thursday, Oct 22, closing at 214,500 won. No report has tied the visit to the share move.

Korean outlets read the trip as an AI pitch

Local coverage framed the visit around artificial intelligence. Seoul Economic Daily described it as a push for Samsung’s AI data center business and a pitch for AI infrastructure in the UAE. Chosunbiz reported that AI was among the subjects discussed.

Maeil Business Newspaper cast the trip as Lee studying a power market it called vital for AI and semiconductors. The paper also reported that he had lunch with workers in the site’s cafeteria. Samsung has not said whether any agreement came out of the visit.

On the same day, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang told CNBC he saw no evidence of a memory glut on the horizon.

A drop that undid most of Wednesday’s gain

The 4.03% fall followed a 5.67% jump on Oct 21, the day Reuters reported on China fab upgrades. Measured in dollars, Thursday’s loss was 3.95%, leaving the stock at US$161.98 at 1,324.2 won per dollar.

The broader market slid too. The KOSPI lost 3.52% to 5,533.77, and the TIGER 200 fund, which tracks the KOSPI 200, gave up 3.41%. Foreign investors made net purchases of 58.2 billion won (about US$44 million) across all KOSPI shares that day; that is a market-wide figure, not one for Samsung.

Samsung accounted for 29.81% of the KOSPI 200’s total market value on Oct 22, so its swings weigh heavily on Korean index funds held abroad.

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The shares have lost 20.11% in won since Sept 30, or 18.39% in dollars. That stretch includes a 9.48% drop on Oct 15. Over the past 20 sessions the stock is down 17.82%.

Results call one week out

The slide has come despite strong preliminary numbers. Samsung’s own early estimate, filed Oct 8, put third-quarter consolidated operating profit at 107.4 trillion won (about US$81.1 billion), up 20.01% from the second quarter and the highest in at least six quarters. Revenue came to 195 trillion won (about US$147 billion).

Samsung is scheduled to hold a conference call on its third-quarter results on Oct 29 at 10:00 KST.

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Information only, not investment advice.