Beijing, January 6, 2026
During yesterday's China-Korea Business Forum, TCL founder and chairman Li Dongsheng made a pretty straightforward but optimistic pitch: the two countries are sitting on huge untapped potential when it comes to working together in the hottest emerging industries.
The forum took place right in the middle of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to China, and the room was packed with heavy hitters. More than 200 Korean business leaders came along for the trip, including the bosses of Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG – basically the whole A-list of Korean big industry.
Li didn't beat around the bush. He told the audience that with technology changing so fast these days and entire industries getting turned upside down, China and South Korea are actually in a really good position to collaborate in fields like artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductor displays, electric vehicles, new energy, and even biotech.
"If we can get serious about joint research, share more know-how, and build better innovation networks together," he said, "we'll be able to turn new ideas into products much quicker and go after global market opportunities that neither of us could tackle alone."
It's worth noting that TCL already has pretty deep ties with Korean companies across several of its main businesses.
On the consumer side, TCL products – TVs, phones, appliances – are now fairly well established in the Korean market with a growing range of offerings. In the display panel world, TCL Huaxing has been cooperating closely for years with Samsung, LG, and even Hyundai Display.
People may remember that TCL actually bought two major Korean-owned panel factories in China in previous years: the old Samsung line in Suzhou and the LG one in Guangzhou. Those deals helped both sides at the time and are still paying off today.
More recently, in the solar energy space, TCL's Zhonghuan subsidiary signed a cooperation agreement with Korean company I-Solar Energy. The two plan to jointly develop and sell commercial & industrial rooftop solar projects across South Korea.
Li was realistic about the current climate. He pointed out that the global economy is being reshaped at lightning speed, and yes – there is more competition than ever between Chinese and Korean companies in many of these same fields.
"But even with that competition," he said, "the basic math is still the same: when we work together, both sides win. That hasn't changed and probably won't."
Looking ahead, he suggested three practical ways the business communities should keep pushing cooperation forward:
- Make better use of the existing China-Korea Free Trade Agreement to cut through red tape and grow two-way trade even more
- Play to each country's strengths – Korea's technology leadership in certain areas, China's manufacturing scale and market size – and really focus on joint innovation projects
- Work together to make supply chains stronger and more flexible, especially in this era when everyone is rethinking where and how things get made
Wrapping up his remarks, Li sounded genuinely hopeful about the long-term picture.
"We're at a new starting line now," he said. "Both countries' companies have a real chance to deepen practical, win-win cooperation. Through better mechanisms, closer technical teamwork, and smarter integration of our industries, we can open a fresh chapter in China-Korea business relations – and help make the whole region more stable and prosperous in the process."
Judging from the lineup of executives in the room yesterday, quite a few people seemed to agree with him. Whether that enthusiasm turns into concrete new deals in the coming months will be the real test.
