This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Myung-hee Na, an engineer with more than two decades of experience in the semiconductor industry who leads technology research at Intel Foundry. At Intel, she focuses on developing next-generation technology in semiconductor chips. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve worked in the US, Europe, and Korea, and across all those places, the technology itself was the same. Device physics is device physics, no matter where you are.
The culture around that technology, however, can be very different.
There is the culture of the country, the company, and the technology sector itself. When those three things come together, they create very different working environments.
Today, I lead technology research at Intel Foundry, where my team works years ahead of manufacturing. We explore new materials, test new concepts, and try to determine what future semiconductor technologies should look like before they ever reach production.
US culture is prime for innovation
I spent 18 years at IBM in New York and Vermont, followed by two years working in Belgium and three years at SK Hynix in South Korea, before returning to the US.
What stands out to me most about the US is how strongly it emphasizes innovation and independent thinking.
From what I’ve seen, the US education system encourages people to develop their own ideas and challenge assumptions: People are often rewarded for thinking differently rather than following a single standard path, and that creates an environment where new ideas can emerge from many directions.
That mindset is especially important in my current work. At Intel, our research organization is trying to solve problems that may not affect products for another five to 10 years. We often know what performance improvements we want to achieve, but we don’t yet know how to get there.
Our day-to-day work involves reading research papers, designing experiments, testing new materials, and evaluating millions of possible combinations. We start with ideas in the lab, narrow them down, and eventually move the most promising candidates into larger-scale testing.
What worked before does not always work for the next generation of technology. We have to think differently, invent together, and approach problems from new angles.
Korea taught me the value of discipline and execution
In many parts of Asia, including Korea, I have seen a different strength. There is often a strong focus on discipline, standardization, and execution.
Teams can move with remarkable precision. Once a direction is established, people work together to execute it efficiently and consistently.
Those qualities are incredibly valuable in semiconductors, where success depends on thousands of manufacturing steps working exactly as intended.
I see that challenge every day. Research is only one part of the process. At Intel, we work closely with manufacturing teams because a promising idea in a laboratory is not enough. It has to be reliable, scalable, and practical enough to become a product.
I don’t see the approach in the US and Korea as better than another. I see strengths and weaknesses in both, and the semiconductor industry needs both innovation and execution.
New ideas only matter if you can turn them into products that work reliably.
The best ideas come from people who think differently
One lesson I’ve learned from working across different regions is that innovation becomes stronger when people with different backgrounds come together.
You cannot underestimate diversity. If everyone in a room thinks the same way, you can often predict the outcome of the discussion before it starts.
The moments that truly move technology forward are usually the moments when someone says, “I never thought about it that way.” Those insights often come from people with different experiences, cultures, and perspectives.
That is one of the greatest strengths of US culture. It brings together people with different ideas and different ways of solving problems.
I see that every day in research. Some of the most valuable discussions happen when engineers, scientists, and researchers approach the same problem from different perspectives. Those debates often lead to solutions none of us would have found on our own.
The industry is moving faster than ever, especially with the rise of AI. Solving future challenges will require new ways of thinking.
Innovation doesn’t happen because everyone agrees. It happens because people bring different perspectives to the same problem and work together to find an answer.
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