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  • I am inside Samsung's global headquarters here in South Korea, where it's lunchtime.

  • I'm getting an exclusive look inside Samsung,

  • exploring three of its sprawling campuses around the city of Seoul.

  • Samsung is the world's most popular smartphone maker, ahead of Huawei and Apple.

  • But its smartphone business is only one part of the Samsung operation,

  • which includes shipping and even construction.

  • Samsung also makes TVs, washers, dryers, air conditioners, laptops, printers, fax machines,

  • door locks and it also has a large business-to-business unit.

  • Samsung employs over 320,000 people globally.

  • And about 70% of them are outside of South Korea.

  • It's the world's 12th largest company by revenue and the world's second largest technology company.

  • Behind me is an actual bus depot for just Samsung employees.

  • And with so many campuses located around South Korea,

  • this tour feels like I'm exploring an entire city.

  • Every building you see behind me is part of Samsung right now.

  • And they also have anything you can imagine.

  • This campus has its own Dunkin' Donuts.

  • It even has its own fire stations too.

  • My first stop is Samsung Digital City.

  • At 346 acres, that makes it over three times the size of the Vatican City.

  • It's home to its consumer electronics business

  • that includes everything from phones to TVs and microwaves.

  • There's even a dedicated area within Digital City where Samsung is testing out its 5G technology.

  • In this part of the campus Samsung is testing its 5G network equipment through real life use cases.

  • So I see cameras on buildings, cameras over traffic lights.

  • This is some of the Samsung 5G network equipment that's currently being deployed.

  • This one for instance is already being used in the U.S.

  • Samsung has signed 5G deals with the likes of AT&T and Verizon in the U.S.

  • Closer to home, Samsung is already working with all the major telco providers to deploy

  • its 5G network equipment, making South Korea one of the first countries to do so.

  • As I roam through Samsung's campus, something stands out.

  • Security is tight here.

  • They actually have metal detectors for when you leave the building and that's for security reasons.

  • That's to ensure that no company property leaves the premises.

  • Next, I head to C-Lab, or Samsung's Creative Lab.

  • It's an in-house incubation program that lets employees pitch and work on their ideas

  • without having to worry about their day jobs.

  • A number of products have come out of C-Lab, including an on-demand 3D printer, a smart belt.

  • Successful projects are either absorbed in-house, or spun off into external startups,

  • with Samsung retaining a small stake in the companies.

  • Every campus has its own gym facility, it's quite huge,

  • I'm told that it really peaks and gets crowded around 6pm.

  • This even has its own running track, there's a fast lane and there's a slow lane,

  • which goes around the entire perimeter of the gym.

  • What's really interesting is you can even borrow gym clothes,

  • so you don't even need to bring your own clothes.

  • It's almost lunchtime, so I'm going to take a break from this tour and have some lunch.

  • This is today's lunch menu behind me. I see a lot of different cuisines.

  • I think I've found the most popular station here in the cafeteria.

  • I'm going to try some Korean noodles over at this station here.

  • Sorry.

  • This looks like a lot of food but they have a system where if you choose a brown tray,

  • that means you want more food, if you choose a green tray, that means you want less food.

  • So I didn't know, but I'm secretly happy I chose this tray.

  • Lunch is completely free here on campus, there's no cash registers or anything.

  • And the cafeterias are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

  • There's a rice station.

  • Instead of your usual condiments like ketchup and mustard, you've got...

  • Kimchi.

  • That is a lot of kimchi.

  • I just noticed that a lot of the columns have letters on them

  • so you can easily find your friends and sit with them.

  • Okay, see, we don't need an app for everything.

  • If you have a big deadline and you can't enjoy a sit down lunch,

  • well, this is the takeout section where you just grab and go.

  • As you leave the cafeteria, there's this hallway where you can have a glass of water

  • and freshen up before you go back to work.

  • I guess I should freshen up as well.

  • After lunch, I take a walk in what's referred to as, Central Park.

  • Right now, it's still around lunchtime so you have a lot of employees

  • taking a stroll and just hanging out.

  • There's a lot of different trees, colours.

  • There's random classical music playing in certain parts of the park.

  • This campus is also home to Samsung Innovation Museum, which is open to the public.

  • Here, you'll find not just the evolution of Samsung's products but a history of technology in general.

  • Next, I head to another campus called Samsung Nano City.

  • It's home to Samsung's semiconductor division.

  • This campus alone is home to 40,000 employees and has 12 cafeterias.

  • This building behind me is where semiconductor chips are made by Samsung,

  • things that go into consumer electronics like your smartphone.

  • Last year, Samsung became the world's largest chipmaker by revenue.

  • According to reports, for every $1,000 iPhone X that Apple sells,

  • Samsung makes $110 through its chips in the phone.

  • These are the buildings of Samsung's Research and Development Center for its microchips.

  • There's 14,000 employees working in these three buildings but because it's so secretive,

  • well, I don't have any access beyond this lobby.

  • I'm ending the tour at Samsung's R&D campus.

  • It's about a 45-minute drive from Nano City.

  • Here's where a lot of the design work is done.

  • Samsung says about one fifth of its global workforce is dedicated to research and development.

  • That's more than 65,000 people.

  • To encourage creativity, there's a library where designers and employees

  • can come to brainstorm and find inspiration.

  • My last stop is at what's called Samsung's Sound Lab.

  • It has everything from music equipment to voice booths,

  • where they record voices of Samsung's smartphone virtual assistant, Bixby.

  • All the sounds are created for things you wouldn't even think off, like when you charge your phone,

  • unplug your phone from the charger, when you open the refrigerator

  • or when the refrigerator has been open for more than a minute long.

  • It's a term called Sonic Branding.

  • They even came up with the sound of Samsung Pay,

  • which was meant to mimic the sound of a credit card being pulled out of a wallet.

  • And then there's the sound they created of a Samsung air conditioner turning off.

  • And I guess that's my cue to wrap up this tour.

  • Hey guys, it's Uptin. Thanks for watching!

  • Check out my tour inside Baidu's campus and Huawei's campus and see how they compare to Samsung.

  • While you're at it, subscribe to our channel, we'll see you next time.

I am inside Samsung's global headquarters here in South Korea, where it's lunchtime.

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