Samsung scores another major foundry victory, expanding its roster of high-profile clients on advanced nodes. After Tesla selected the company in July to produce its AI6 processor under a $16.5 billion contract, Elon Musk revealed during the latest earnings call—as cited by CNBC and Investing.com—that both Samsung and TSMC will now share production of the AI5 chip.

• The Logic Behind Dual-Factory Production

AI5 Production will reportedly take place at Samsung’s Taylor plant in Texas and TSMC’s facility in Arizona, according to Musk. He praised Samsung as “an amazing company,” noting it already builds Tesla’s AI4 computer, and said it “makes sense” for both foundries to handle AI5 manufacturing, as per Investing.com. Musk added that Samsung’s Texas fab has “slightly more advanced equipment” than TSMC’s Arizona site, according to Investing.com.

As reported by CNBC, Tesla introduced the AI5 chip at its 2024 shareholder meeting, designed to support the company’s latest Autopilot hardware and process real-time self-driving signals. Musk initially indicated that TSMC would manufacture AI5, with its AI6 successor to be produced by Samsung.

Musk, as noted by Investing.com, added that production at both sites will ensure Tesla’s “explicit goal” of maintaining an oversupply of AI5 chips to support both vehicles and data centers.

Musk is likely correct about Samsung’s push for cutting-edge chipmaking, as the company is investing heavily in advanced EUV technology to narrow the gap with rival foundries. According to Korea Economic Daily, the company will receive its first high-NA EUV scanner (Twinscan EXE:5200B) later this year, with a second unit arriving in early 2026. Notably, as the report highlights, Samsung plans to use these machines for 2nm production, including the Exynos 2600 AP and Tesla’s next-gen AI chips.

• More Details on AI5

As per Investing.com, Musk emphasized that the AI5 chip design by Tesla is incredible, adding that he’s spent “almost every weekend for the past few months” working with the design team. He reportedly explained that Tesla’s AI5 chip eliminates several components found in the AI4, including the legacy GPU and image signal processor.

Citing Musk, CNBC notes that since Tesla is the sole client for the AI5, its chip designers could tailor the chip to the company’s needs, removing legacy components that previously slowed performance.

According to The Tech Buzz, Musk claimed the AI5 chips are half the size of full-reticle designs from NVIDIA and AMD, potentially delivering 10 times the performance per dollar for AI applications. He added that by certain metrics, AI5 delivers performance up to 40 times greater than AI4, as per Investing.com.