Safety comes first at Samsung’s Pyeongtaek construction site

In front of Factory No. 4, I met Choi Hye-rin, a 35-year-old safety officer, wiping her forehead with a handkerchief. As night fell, she boarded one of the shuttle buses transporting workers from Songtan, an old, industrial district with heavy waste.

Choi oversees the safety of workers constructing cable ducts. She writes reports, inspects equipment and checks the chemicals handled by workers. She is one of hundreds of women working at the site, many of them employed as monitors who patrol areas surrounding heavy equipment.

Safety is a major focus at the site. Construction resumes shortly after lunch, while excavators move beneath tower cranes and towering, rusted steel structures. A banner hanging from the highest girder reads, “Don’t panic even if your work is delayed.” A giant LED scoreboard announces the winners of a safety-poetry-writing contest, while a helmet above a locker displays the pledge: “I won’t work unless I’m safe.” The completed fab shines when viewed from across the street.

Samsung races to regain ground in the memory-chip market

The site reflects both urgency and caution. Samsung predicts that demand for memory chips will continue to increase rapidly. The company has also spent years watching domestic rival SK Hynix take the lead in high-bandwidth memory products that power Nvidia’s artificial-intelligence accelerators.

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, meanwhile, maintains a monopoly in the foundry business, producing chips designed by other companies. Samsung’s buildup in Pyeongtaek is an effort to regain its lead in memory chips.

Higher wages keep workers coming back

Although the heat is intense and the workshop is crowded, Choi Hye-rin has no intention of leaving.

“The prices are higher here compared to other construction sites, and the work is relatively easy,” she says.

Her daily wage is 140,000 won, or about $97, and she expects the construction boom to keep her busy for some time.

“You just have to come back.”