Remote-controlled cleaners and Samsung’s chip expansion show AI’s next steps

San Francisco startup Tau Robotics is offering a humanoid-robot cleaning service, but its machines still depend on human operators. People pilot the robots remotely, using onboard cameras to watch them work inside customers’ homes. A cleaning visit to an apartment exposed unexpected challenges while also offering glimpses of what domestic robotics could become. The company’s long-term goal is autonomous cleaning, although its current service shows that the technology is not yet ready to handle the work independently.

Samsung is building a vast semiconductor manufacturing campus in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, to meet soaring demand for the specialized memory chips that generative AI models require. At the complex south of Seoul, three fabs already operate around the clock, a fourth is coming online, and thousands of workers are racing to build a fifth. The expansion highlights the manufacturing infrastructure needed to support the AI boom.