Inside Samsung’s Massive Digital City

[Music] samsung is by far the biggest company in south korea it makes more than twice as much as the next largest south korean corporation in order to house their more than 250 000 employees the electronics giant has built its own city just outside seoul today we're learning about the city that samsung built the samsung group which includes samsung electronics and samsung life insurance among others has an annual revenue of 208 billion dollars accounting for 17 of south korea's total gdp though it has been plagued by controversy in recent years it is by far one of the largest corporations on earth samsung produces everything from medical supplies to energy and they have substantial holdings in finance resort management and insurance in the first quarter of 2019 samsung shipped 71.9 million smartphone units compared to huawei and apple which shipped 59.1 million and 36.4 million respectively according to idc needless to say this company is extremely powerful only 30 kilometers outside of the south korean capital of seoul sits one of the largest urban corporate centers on the planet samsung digital city it's technically housed in the city of suwat an ancient community with roots going back as far as the 8th century huasiang fortress is suwon's most notable attraction built in 1796 the entire city used to be encircled by the walls but now suwon has expanded beyond this boundary huasiang is also listed as a unesco world heritage site but despite suwan's historical past samsung digital city is extremely modern though technically not a city it might as well be within 390 acres of office space there are almost 35 000 samsung employees four landmark office towers up to 38 floors high 131 smaller buildings with more labs offices recreational facilities and a guest house for visiting researchers it's unclear exactly how much the campus cost to construct but conservative estimates place the price at around 1 billion with many millions every year in upkeep and perks for employees there's also what's called samsung 5g city which consists of an outdoor park where the company tests 5g network equipment which is currently being deployed to telecom providers including in south korea and the us the sprawling campus includes cafeterias where employees eat for free a massive gym and includes international food and beverage outlets such as dunkin donuts while security is tight and heavily guarded the samsung innovation museum is open to the public and pays homage to the history of samsung along with a general history of technology products in addition events are organized each week including concerts fashion shows and talk shows and 690 cultural clubs keep employees entertained on their breaks these clubs span across interests from korean folk painting to paragliding and cooking on top of all this samsung's headquarters hosts 490 sports clubs and offers a swimming pool basketball and badminton courts and baseball diamonds there are bizarre otherworldly spaces like the multiple input multiple output or mimo wherein samsung tests different cell phone technology samsung is extremely quiet about the testing that takes place in the mimo however the futuristic space appears more like the cockpit of a spaceship samsung said more than 65 000 of its employees are dedicated to conducting research and development which is the equivalent to around twenty percent of its global workforce to encourage creativity amongst staff its seoul r d campus hosts a multi-story library where designers and employees can come to brainstorm and find inspiration amidst books and magazines the campus is also home to samsung's sound lab which features music equipment and voice booths where the voice of samsung's smartphone virtual assistant bixby is recorded it's also where sounds are created for many of its household appliances such as the sound a smartphone makes once it's plugged into an electrical outlet or the sound a refrigerator makes after its door has been left open for too long due to the rather minimal welfare services by the state in south korea samsung electronics provides many social benefits for its employees free of charge as the welfare state in south korea is only slowly emerging samsung electronics stands out as an attractive and reliable employer with its broad offering of free social services in samsung digital city these services include health care child care free food recreation and free public transportation in case you need to see a doctor during your stay in samsung digital city it is entirely free for samsung employees the healthcare service is free at samsung digital city with numerous medical facilities that offer everything from physicals and flu shots to dental treatments and traditional acupuncture samsung digital city has ten basketball courts four badminton courts three soccer fields two baseball diamonds a climbing wall and an olympic sized swimming pool it also serves up to 72 000 meals with 92 different menus daily the cafeteria with more than 4 100 seats sources its produce from suwon's neighborhoods creating a strong link with farmers and producers kindergartens with 150 teachers look after 900 children of samsung employees during the work week in addition the campus is home to a helicopter pad and free buses and trains for all their employees with a total number of vehicles in the hundreds when it's family day in samsung digital city the whole campus turns into a theme park for samsung families and residents and yes it includes the go-karts when it rains the company provides 9000 free umbrellas for each of its employees to use between buildings of course samsung's biggest competitors companies like apple huawei google and amazon all have secretive labs too but samsung has a reputation for throwing things against the wall to see if they stick often at a faster rate than its rivals that strategy is great when it works but it also leads to the occasional flop one example in 2019 when samsung rushed its folding phone galaxy fold to the market early reviewers complained of defective hinges and broken screens samsung pulled the phone tweaked the design and has since launched a new version in south korea and in 2016 samsung had one of its most legendary failures ever its galaxy 7 phones began spontaneously combusting and their stock tanked they were forced to recall one million phones though they have since regained their standing in public opinion

Channel: Tech Vision

Views: 1,149,852

Rating: 4.8795962 out of 5

Keywords: samsung, samsung hq, samsung headquarter, samsung city, samsung digital city, samsung headquarters seoul, samsung ceo, samsung jobs, samsung town, samsung company, samsung headquarters, tech city, technology, modern, advanced, huawei, apple, smartphones

Id: TBsU6sMg7U0

Length: 6min 19sec (379 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 06 2020