A growing number of major chip buyers are adopting multi-vendor sourcing strategies for advanced semiconductor nodes, while anchoring key capacity at U.S.-based fabs. Tesla’s latest earnings call underscored this shift: the company is preparing its next-generation AI chips at the 2nm node, aiming to diversify supply risks and enhance delivery certainty.
During the call, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla’s AI5 chip will be jointly produced by TSMC and Samsung, marking Samsung’s first entry into the AI5 production pipeline. At the same time, Samsung has secured full production rights for the upcoming AI6 chip, which will use its SF2 (2nm) process and be manufactured in the United States. This is considered a milestone win for Samsung Foundry in the competition for leading-edge AI compute chips.
Musk even offered a direct comparison between the two companies’ U.S. fabs, describing Samsung’s Taylor, Texas facility as “slightly more advanced” than TSMC’s Arizona site. That remark could influence future order allocation and production scaling — particularly for Tesla’s advanced AI chip line, where local manufacturing and yield maturity are key.
⚙️ Product and Production Details #
From a product standpoint, Musk revealed that the AI5 is expected to deliver up to 40× the performance of the previous AI4 chip — an exceptional jump for a single generation. He also noted that the architecture removes traditional GPU blocks, suggesting Tesla’s design team replaced general-purpose GPUs with dedicated AI accelerator tiles, optimized for specific workloads. Musk described the AI5 as being “half the size of a retina,” hinting at a large die area focused on maximizing throughput and on-chip SRAM capacity.
On the production side, Musk emphasized a goal of maintaining “oversupply” of AI5 chips to ensure capacity flexibility. For Samsung, this means quickly ramping up its Taylor fab to meet Tesla’s projected demand. Winning Tesla as a flagship customer will help boost utilization of Samsung’s U.S. capacity and strengthen its credibility for future high-performance chip contracts.
🌐 Supply Chain Dynamics and Market Impact #
The shared production of AI5 by TSMC and Samsung, combined with Samsung’s exclusive win for AI6, signals two major shifts:
- Tesla’s risk-diversified supply strategy, and
- Samsung’s evolution from a follower to a core foundry supplier at the leading edge.
Given Musk’s public assessment of the U.S. fabs, the foundry that can achieve higher yield, tighter power efficiency, and stronger packaging integration will likely gain a larger share of future orders.
Tesla’s architectural transition from general-purpose GPU functions toward AI-centric acceleration also represents a broader industry trend. By trading flexibility for throughput and efficiency, Tesla is optimizing its hardware specifically for neural workloads. Combined with the move to the 2nm process, this will test each foundry’s ability to deliver both yield maturity and advanced packaging consistency — critical factors in achieving the promised 40× performance improvement.
🔍 Industry Implications #
Tesla’s dual-sourcing approach shifts the foundry race beyond pure process advantage. The new battleground now combines process node capability, localized manufacturing maturity, and advanced packaging systems.
For Samsung, winning the AI6 order and co-producing AI5 represents both a breakthrough in customer acquisition and a proof point for its U.S. manufacturing operations. As production ramps and more technical details emerge, the Tesla collaboration could become a key reference case for measuring progress in advanced foundry competition and AI accelerator design strategies.
In essence, the Tesla–Samsung–TSMC dynamic showcases the semiconductor industry’s next phase — where process innovation, supply diversification, and regional manufacturing strength converge to define leadership in the age of AI computing.