Cancer alarm at the factory producing artificial intelligence chips. Why do workers get sick?

Rights activists fighting for job security in the semiconductor industry in South Korea called on the government to recognize the cancer diagnosis made by three former employees of technology giant SK hynix as an occupational disease.

SK hynix, which plays a critical role in the growth of the artificial intelligence sector with its memory chips, has a significant share in the global supply chain together with another South Korean manufacturer, Samsung Electronics.

However, the chemicals to which personnel working in chip production and assembly lines are exposed have been controversial for a long time.

According to the data of the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration, workers working in these facilities; It can come into contact with solvents, acids, toxic metals and chemical gases.

The difficulty of establishing a direct link between working conditions in the sector and certain types of cancer and the lack of definitive results in research in this field keep the debates alive.

Lee Sang-soo, an activist of the SHARPS group that defends workers' rights in the chip industry, claimed at a press conference that some substances on the company's own banned list were included in the production.

Basing his claim on the data submitted by the company to the Ministry of Environment, Lee stated that they found that banned substances, including nickel and its derivatives, were used in factories.

SK hynix sent a written statement to AFP regarding the issue and brushed off the accusations.

The company stated that they have taken various steps to determine the dynamics of the emergence of diseases with more objective methods and that they are fully cooperating with the official authorities.

The statement also noted that proactive measures were taken for employee health, including the preparation of a comprehensive support and compensation plan.

A similar process in South Korea had previously occurred within Samsung.

After a dispute of more than ten years, the company publicly apologized to its employees, mostly young women, who contracted cancer in some of its factories in 2018, and paid compensation of 150 million won per case, which was equivalent to approximately 130 thousand dollars at the exchange rate of that period.