I've worked in the US, Europe, and Korea. The biggest difference is how people approach innovation.

This as-told-to effort is based connected a speech pinch Myung-hee Na, an technologist pinch much than 2 decades of acquisition successful the semiconductor manufacture who leads exertion investigation astatine Intel Foundry. At Intel, she focuses connected processing next-generation exertion successful semiconductor chips. The speech has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

I've worked successful the US, Europe, and Korea, and crossed each those places, the exertion itself was the same. Device physics is instrumentality physics, nary matter wherever you are.

The civilization astir that technology, however, tin beryllium very different.

There is the civilization of the country, the company, and the exertion assemblage itself. When those 3 things travel together, they create very different moving environments.

Today, I lead technology investigation astatine Intel Foundry, wherever my squad useful years up of manufacturing. We research caller materials, trial caller concepts, and effort to find what early semiconductor technologies should look for illustration earlier they ever scope production.

US civilization is premier for innovation

I spent 18 years astatine IBM successful New York and Vermont, followed by 2 years moving successful Belgium and 3 years astatine SK Hynix successful South Korea, earlier returning to the US.

What stands retired to maine astir about the US is really powerfully it emphasizes innovation and independent thinking.

From what I've seen, the US acquisition strategy encourages group to create their ain ideas and situation assumptions: People are often rewarded for reasoning otherwise alternatively than pursuing a azygous modular path, and that creates an situation wherever caller ideas tin look from galore directions.

That mindset is particularly important successful my existent work. At Intel, our investigation statement is trying to lick problems that whitethorn not impact products for different 5 to 10 years. We often cognize what capacity improvements we want to achieve, but we don't yet cognize really to get there.

Our day-to-day activity involves reference investigation papers, designing experiments, testing caller materials, and evaluating millions of imaginable combinations. We commencement pinch ideas successful the lab, constrictive them down, and yet move the astir promising candidates into larger-scale testing.

What worked earlier does not ever activity for the adjacent procreation of technology. We person to deliberation differently, invent together, and attack problems from caller angles.

Korea taught maine the worth of subject and execution

In galore parts of Asia, including Korea, I person seen a different strength. There is often a beardown attraction connected discipline, standardization, and execution.

Teams tin move pinch singular precision. Once a guidance is established, group activity together to execute it efficiently and consistently.

Those qualities are incredibly valuable successful semiconductors, wherever occurrence depends connected thousands of manufacturing steps moving precisely arsenic intended.

I spot that situation each day. Research is only 1 portion of the process. At Intel, we activity intimately pinch manufacturing teams because a promising thought successful a laboratory is not enough. It has to beryllium reliable, scalable, and applicable capable to go a product.

I don't spot the attack successful the US and Korea arsenic amended than another. I spot strengths and weaknesses successful both, and the semiconductor industry needs some invention and execution.

New ideas only matter if you tin move them into products that activity reliably.

The champion ideas travel from group who deliberation differently

One instruction I've learned from moving crossed different regions is that invention becomes stronger erstwhile group pinch different backgrounds travel together.

You cannot underestimate diversity. If everyone successful a room thinks the aforesaid way, you tin often foretell the result of the chat earlier it starts.

The moments that genuinely move exertion guardant are usually the moments erstwhile personification says, "I ne'er thought astir it that way." Those insights often travel from group pinch different experiences, cultures, and perspectives.

That is 1 of the top strengths of US culture. It brings together group pinch different ideas and different ways of solving problems.

I spot that each time successful research. Some of the astir valuable discussions hap erstwhile engineers, scientists, and researchers attack the aforesaid problem from different perspectives. Those debates often lead to solutions nary of america would person recovered connected our own.

The manufacture is moving faster than ever, particularly pinch the emergence of AI. Solving early challenges will require caller ways of thinking.

Innovation doesn't hap because everyone agrees. It happens because group bring different perspectives to the aforesaid problem and activity together to find an answer.