OpenAI · Samsung · South Korea · New York · MIT Technology Review
A visit to Samsung’s large new semiconductor hub
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Generative AI models run on powerful chips known as GPUs, which depend on stacks of specialized memory chips packaged with the processor.
Key facts
- She gets paid 140,000 won ($97) a day and expects the boom to keep her busy for some time: “You keep coming back
- In front of the fourth fab, the reporter meet Choi Hye-rin, a 35-year-old safety officer, as she wipes her forehead with a handkerchief
- Construction of a fifth was halted during a drop in demand for memory chips in 2024 but restarted when the AI boom sent demand soaring
- Some hop on scooters or motorcycles to get around the campus, which covers an area about the size of New York City’s Central Park
Summary
It’s before noon on a Monday, and construction workers are pouring out of Samsung’s fabs in Pyeongtaek, a farming city south of Seoul where rice paddies abut a sprawling chipmaking complex. They walk to lunch, sweaty and flushed, in chunky sneakers capped with yellow rubber toe guards. In front of the fourth fab, the reporter meet Choi Hye-rin, a 35-year-old safety officer, as she wipes her forehead with a handkerchief. At dawn, she boarded one of the shuttle buses that ferry workers in from Songtan, an older, scrappier district. Safety is a big deal here. Helmets stickered with a pledge, “I will not work if it’s not safe,” perch atop lockers.