Facebook parent Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg engaged in discussions with LG Electronics executives regarding collaboration on extended reality devices during his visit to South Korea, marking his first trip to the country in approximately a decade, the media has reported. This visit to South Korea comes as the second part of Zuckerberg's three-nation Asian tour, which analysts believe aims to explore partnerships with prominent tech companies and establish positive rapport with regional business and government figures. Having already visited Japan, he is scheduled to travel to India later this week.
While in India, Zuckerberg is said to participate in the wedding ceremony of Mukesh Ambani's son, who is the heir to the Reliance Industries conglomerate, a prominent player in the oil and technology sectors.
On Wednesday, Zuckerberg met LG Electronics CEO William Cho for two hours to discuss business strategies and considerations for extended reality — also known as XR — device development, LG said in a statement, as reported by news agency AP.
South Korean tech major LG has announced its intensified strategic partnership with Meta, with the goal of accelerating its extended reality (XR) initiatives, which include augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and other associated technologies.
Also, local media reported that Zuckerberg held a meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong later on Wednesday. Additionally, he is slated to meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday (February 28).
According to the LG statement, the company CEO showed a strong interest in Meta's cutting-edge technology demonstrations, particularly emphasizsing Meta's extensive language models and the possibilities for integrating on-device AI while trying out Meta's newest virtual reality headset, the Quest 3, and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, the report added.
“Meta already collaborated with high-end sunglasses brand Ray-Ban to launch smart glasses last year. Just like this, Meta could possibly want to introduce their XR technology to a worldwide customer base of a global consumer electronics maker like LG,” said Kim Yang Paeng, a technology analyst at the Korea Institute of Economics and Technology, the AP report added.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to Tokyo and was quoted as saying reporters: “We had a good productive conversation about AI and the future of technology, and I am really excited for the work that is happening here in Japan.”