On July 28th, Samsung Electronics stated in a document submitted to regulatory authorities that it had signed a chip manufacturing agreement worth 22.8 trillion Korean won (note: the current exchange rate is about 118.172 billion yuan, about 16.5 billion US dollars) with a large global company, but did not disclose the specific customer name. According to sources, Tesla is precisely this customer, and the company currently has business dealings with Samsung's contract chip manufacturing department.
According to foreign media, Samsung Electronics will produce semiconductors for Tesla under the newly reached $16.5 billion agreement, which will provide assistance to its underperforming wafer foundry division. The contract period for this cooperation is from July 24, 2025 to December 31, 1933.
Regarding this, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed a collaboration leak, stating that Samsung's newly built giant factory in Texas, USA, will be dedicated to producing Tesla's next-generation AI6 chips (note: Tesla's intelligent driving chips), and stated that "its strategic importance is beyond doubt". Musk also stated that Samsung is currently producing AI4 chips. TSMC will first produce the newly designed AI5 chip in Taiwan, China, China, and then in Arizona, the United States.
According to foreign media reports in June this year, TSMC has a market share of 67% in the global third-party wafer foundry market, while the second ranked Samsung only holds 11%. Additionally, sources have reported that Samsung Electronics' wafer foundry division received zero bonuses in the first half of 2025. Previously, foreign media cited supply chain sources as saying that Samsung has launched a "selection and focus" strategy, concentrating resources to improve the yield of 2nm processes, hoping to challenge TSMC through production and cost advantages.
