他在工厂住了半年/living in factories
Yes, it is common for many Asia countries that "lodging" (typically dormitories) is provided by the companies and often these "factories" form cities on their own.

A famous (or maybe better to say notorious) example is Foxconn. From Wikipedia:


  Foxconn's largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen, where
  hundreds of thousands of workers (varying counts include 230,000,
  300,000, and 450,000) are employed at the Longhua Science &amp;
  Technology Park, a walled campus sometimes referred to as "Foxconn
  City" or "iPod City". Covering about 1.16 square miles (3
  square km), it includes 15 factories, worker dormitories, a
  swimming pool, a fire brigade, its own television network
  (Foxconn TV), and a city centre with a grocery store, bank,
  restaurants, bookstore, and hospital. While some workers live in
  surrounding towns and villages, others live and work inside the
  complex; a quarter of the employees live in the dormitories, and
  many of them work up to 12 hours a day for 6 days each week.
  Another of Foxconn's factory "cities" is Zhengzhou Technology Park in
  Zhengzhou, Henan province, where it is reported 120,000 employees
  work.