TLDR
- Samsung announced plans to start large-scale production of Tesla’s upcoming AI6 processors at its Texas facility beginning in late 2027
- Samsung’s Foundry Business President revealed the details during a Wednesday shareholders’ meeting
- The manufacturing agreement is part of a $16.5 billion multi-year contract signed between Samsung and Tesla in July 2024
- Samsung entered into a memorandum of understanding with AMD for HBM4 memory delivery for AMD’s upcoming MI455X AI accelerators
- Shares of Samsung Electronics climbed 7.5% in Seoul trading, surpassing the Kospi’s 5% advance
Han Jin-man, Samsung Electronics President and Head of Foundry Business, delivered two significant announcements to shareholders on Wednesday that generated strong market enthusiasm.
Shares of Samsung surged 7.5% in Seoul trading. The Kospi benchmark index advanced 5% during the same session, demonstrating Samsung’s outperformance relative to the broader market following the dual announcements.
Han revealed that Samsung’s Taylor manufacturing facility in Texas is scheduled to commence high-volume production of Tesla’s next-generation artificial intelligence chip during the latter half of 2027. He characterized the Tesla partnership — which encompasses autonomous vehicle technology and robotics applications — as “a great opportunity” for its chip manufacturing operations.
“The next-generation Tesla chip is scheduled for mass production at the Taylor fabrication plant in the U.S. in the second half of next year, with both its design and manufacturing progressing smoothly,” Han said.
The processor being manufactured is Tesla’s AI6 chip. Elon Musk verified on X platform last year that Samsung’s Taylor operations would be responsible for its production.
This production schedule stems from a $16.5 billion multi-year agreement both companies executed in July 2024. The contract represented a significant achievement for Samsung’s foundry division, which has been striving to narrow the competitive distance with industry leader TSMC.
AMD Partnership
Apart from Tesla, Samsung utilized the shareholders’ gathering to unveil a separate memorandum of understanding with Advanced Micro Devices.
According to the MOU, Samsung will deliver HBM4 — high-bandwidth memory — for AMD’s forthcoming Instinct MI455X AI accelerators. The MI455X GPU represents a cornerstone of AMD’s Helios rack-scale architecture designed for AI infrastructure applications.
The partnership also encompasses possible supply of cutting-edge memory for AMD’s sixth-generation EPYC processor lineup.
In addition to the memory arrangement, both companies explored a prospective foundry collaboration. This would involve Samsung offering contract semiconductor manufacturing services for upcoming AMD products, although no concrete agreement on this element has been finalized.
Stock Move
AMD stock declined 0.14% during trading. Tesla shares increased 0.94%.
Samsung’s 7.5% rally in Seoul represented the standout performance. The stock’s movement occurred on a day when the Korean market already posted gains, but Samsung’s advance was particularly notable.
Han’s remarks were unambiguous: Samsung views its foundry operations achieving meaningful progress through the Tesla collaboration. The Taylor facility, which has encountered production obstacles in previous years, is now positioned to become crucial to one of the semiconductor industry’s most closely monitored manufacturing agreements.
