According to industry sources, the Korean tech giant, as well as its local rival LG Electronics, had tried to buy the same GE business before China’s Haier won the bid.

Seo would not further elaborate on the talks, but he hinted the company was always open to merger and acquisition opportunities.

“We are carefully watching the situation because the business environment and competition can change any time,” he added.

His counterpart Cho Seong-jin of LG also told reporters last week that the company had refused a deal with GE as there were no business synergies.

Haier, the Chinese home appliance giant, has gobbled up global rivals such as Japan’s Sanyo and New Zealand’s Fisher & Paykel in recent years, even though the purchases have thus far had no serious impact on the market.

But industry watchers predict that its latest GE takeover, worth $5.4 billion, could be a big boost for it at least in the U.S. market, one of the few markets where home appliance sales continue to grow.

With cheaper Chinese refrigerators and washers flooding the market, Korea’s Samsung and LG have focused more on making an upscale push across their product lineups.

On Monday, Samsung unveiled the world’s first air conditioner that keeps cooling the air via some 135,000 micro holes that cover the machine’s whole front body instead of the existing giant windows gushing out irritating wind.

“We topped the U.S. market last year. It was not because we quickly followed the trend, but because we broke the existing rules and came up with new ideas,” Samsung’s Seo said. “We will continue to bet big on new, creative ideas.”

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