Inside Samsung’s dysfunctional chips division

Plus: Photos from China's pavilion at the World Expo, and how AI is making health care safer in the Amazon.

The Global Shutterstock/RoW Samsung is desperate to compete on chips. Workers say it comes at a cost Scarred by long hours, low pay, and a hostile work culture, many chip workers are leaving for competitors, including American companies. READ MORE > The global stakes of the U.S.-China AI rivalry A focus on "who's winning the AI race" can overlook key concerns around safety, governance, and equity, experts tell Rest of World. READ MORE > AI is making health care safer in the remote Amazon At overburdened clinics, pharmacists use AI to catch dangerous errors. It's frontier tech meets frontier medicine — with global implications. READ MORE > Humanoid robots, astronauts, and huge lines: Photos from China's pavilion at the World Expo Chinese firms iFlytek and Hytera highlighted AI translation and public safety tech — sidestepping disputes over surveillance and trade secrets. READ MORE > Q&A with Arsen Tomsky, CEO of inDrive InDrive is the world's second-most downloaded ride-hailing app — but founder Arsen Tomsky doesn't want to build another Uber. Instead, he wants to build a super-app that can even deliver education and health care, and always prioritizes people over algorithms. Tomsky and Rina Chandran, Rest of World's deputy editor, spoke on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro in April. On exiting Miami, and entering new markets Tomsky: We launched in Miami [inDrive's only U.S. market] in 2023 and left in 2025. It was a test launch for us, and we realized that operating in the U.S. is very expensive because of the increase in insurance prices. We can relaunch there in the future, but not for now. For us it makes more sense to be in developing countries, where people are more price-conscious, they value each dollar. Read the full interview > Dispatches from the ground  The biggest stories in tech from the regions we cover. Latin America Protests exploded across the U.S. last week following immigration raids that have spread anguish among undocumented migrants. Many in this community are turning to a growing number of mobile platforms that alert users to federal agents and provide legal information. In recent months, the Mexican and Guatemalan governments have launched apps to support their citizens in the U.S. At the same time, some of these migrant-focused apps have gone offline or scaled back operations amid worries that they cannot guarantee users' privacy. — Karla Zabludovsky from Mexico City Africa ​​China is dropping import tariffs on all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for the last 15 years, importing around $170 billion worth of goods annually. Though China hasn't announced exactly when the tariffs will be lifted, it's a relief to many African nations that have been uncertain of what to expect from the U.S. The Donald Trump administration has currently paused its tariffs announced in April. Eswatini is the only African nation excluded from China's zero-tariff announcement as it recognizes Taiwan — which China regards as its province — as an independent country.— Damilare Dosunmu from Lagos China Chinese EV maker XPeng says it has developed autonomous driving chips that are more powerful than Nvidia's. Although car chips are not directly impacted by U.S. export controls that target the most advanced chips, Chinese officials have warned against the country's heavy reliance on American suppliers like Nvidia and Qualcomm. XPeng's co-founder, He Xiaopeng, told the Financial Times recently that the company expected to supply chips to Volkswagen and other carmakers. Other companies, including Huawei and Horizon Robotics, are also competing in the car chip market, which will contribute to China's push for self-reliance in tech.— Viola Zhou from New York City Southeast Asia U.S. semiconductor giant Qualcomm has opened an AI R&D center in Vietnam, its third largest after India and Ireland. The move follows Qualcomm's acquisition of the generative AI division of VinAI, a subsidiary of Vingroup. Last December, Nvidia also announced plans to open an R&D center in Vietnam. The country's large pool of engineers and competitive costs have been attracting an increasing number of chip firms. — Lam Le from Hanoi On location  Próspera was supposed to be a privatized, Silicon Valley-funded paradise — but it's a hard sell for the neighbors. Do you know where it's located? Daniele Volpe for RoW Brazil Honduras Portugal What we're reading Amsterdam spent years trying to build a fair algorithm to detect welfare fraud. It didn't work. (MIT Technology Review) Residents in Delhi's low-income neighborhoods are establishing a digital trail to protect themselves from eviction. (The Polis Project) Brazil's Supreme Court rules to make social media companies liable for user content. (Associated Press) And one more thing... To dodge U.S. restrictions, Chinese AI companies are sending engineers with suitcases filled with training data to countries where advanced chips are still available, such as Malaysia. The engineers upload the data to local servers and build their AI model under the radar. 🧳 Thank you and . Please forward this to a friend and do reach out to us via hello@restofworld.org. — Edited by Paula Cho You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from Rest of World. Unsubscribe • Manage Preferences restofworld.org 101 Greenwich St., New York, NY 10006 Past Issues • Unsubscribe Like our journalism? Consider donating Follow us on Instagram • Twitter • LinkedIn