TECH NEWS – The goal is reportedly to make chip manufacturing a major priority for Tesla as well, but that is still hard to believe.

Elon Musk appears to be taking his chip-manufacturing ambitions far more seriously, as Samsung, Tesla’s favored manufacturing partner, is reportedly setting up an office for the billionaire at its Taylor facility. Tesla is already mass-producing its own in-house silicon, and it has now brought both Samsung and TSMC into its supply chain, with signs it could also tap Intel’s services. Musk has talked up Tesla’s bold semiconductor plans, including a TeraFab meant to help cover the automaker’s annual demand of 100 to 200 billion chips. According to Korean media, Samsung chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the Taylor site and met with Musk to discuss the AI5 and the next-generation AI6 chips.

The striking detail is that Musk would now have his own office at Samsung’s Taylor plant, allowing him to personally oversee production lines and speed up the feedback loop. Tesla’s CEO is known for micromanagement, and it seems chip manufacturing may be joining that list. Tesla is currently Samsung’s biggest partner in the United States, as the two companies have signed a massive $16.5 billion deal under which the Korean tech giant would provide Tesla with a full semiconductor ecosystem.

Even with that level of cooperation, Musk reportedly believes his manufacturing partners will not be able to meet Tesla’s unique silicon needs, which is why he is said to be planning an independent chip supply chain. More broadly, Tesla’s CEO wants stability in chip procurement, and relying on partners such as TSMC raises the question of whether the Taiwanese company can be a long-term option, especially in light of geopolitical dynamics. Musk wants to take part in the U.S. semiconductor push from the ground up by building out supply lines domestically.

It will be interesting to see how Tesla’s custom silicon project develops at a time when it is facing tougher competition from automakers such as Rivian. And as Musk has suggested before, he believes Tesla’s AI5 and AI6 chips sit in a class of their own when it comes to competing with comparable products from Nvidia and others.

Source: WCCFTech, Joongang