[THE INVESTOR]  Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son, who is more widely known as Sohn Jeong-eui here, were spotted meeting at the Korean tech giant’s Seoul headquarters on Sept. 29.

The two firms declined to reveal details of the high-profile meeting. Industry watchers see they may have discussed possible partnership on the Internet of Things services and semiconductors.

Their meeting comes after the Japanese tech and telecom behemoth acquired British chip designer ARM Holdings for 24 billion pounds (US$32 billion) in July in a push to take a lead in the era of IoT that connects all machines via the internet. 

Samsung uses ARM’s graphics processing chips for its devices as well. The company also sells its flagship Galaxy S phones through SoftBank in Japan, one of the trickiest markets for the world’s largest smartphone maker.

Sources said Sohn was also expected to meet President Park Geun-hye on Sept. 30.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)