In a notable deal, Tesla announced a $16.5 billion agreement with Samsung to produce next-generation AI chips for Tesla in the future. This news was posted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on the social media platform X, where Musk said, "Samsung's new factory in Texas will be dedicated to producing Tesla's next-generation AI6 chips. This is a significant and far-reaching strategy."
Tesla's AI6 chip (also known as Hardware 6) will become a core technology for the company in multiple areas such as autonomous driving, Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus, and high-performance AI training in data centers. Musk also mentioned that the AI5 chip, produced in collaboration with TSMC, has just completed its design. The AI5 chip is mainly used in the Full Self-Driving (FSD) system and will initially be produced at TSMC's factories in Taiwan and Arizona. At the same time, Samsung is already producing the AI4 chip, which Musk expressed approval of.
This agreement is good news for Samsung, which had previously faced challenges in attracting and retaining major customers. Musk even mentioned that Tesla's spending on Samsung chips in the future could exceed $16.5 billion, and the actual production volume is expected to far surpass this number. In a follow-up tweet, he stated that Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to participate in efforts to improve manufacturing efficiency.
Musk emphasized that the key to this collaboration is his personal involvement in advancing the progress, and his home happens to be not far from this new factory. Since 2019, Tesla has shifted from NVIDIA's drive platform to its own custom chips, launching hardware 3 called FSD Computer (FSDC). This chip is manufactured by Samsung and features a dual-system redundancy design, providing the necessary safety assurance for autonomous driving.
Today, Tesla is increasing its investment in chip development and is working to transform itself from a traditional automobile manufacturer into an AI and robotics technology company. The success of this strategy will not only change the automotive industry but also have a profound impact on the development of future technologies.