Tesla secures a whopping $16.5 billion deal with Samsung for producing AI chips intended for humanoid robots, data centers, and self-driving vehicles
Tesla has announced its latest artificial intelligence (AI) chip, the AI6, which is set to power a range of AI-driven applications, including self-driving cars, humanoid robots, and AI data centers. The chip, built using Samsung's advanced 2nm MBCFET technology, marks a significant step forward in Tesla's quest to optimize real-time neural network processing, low-latency decision-making, and energy efficiency.
The AI6 chip is a custom-designed hardware platform that aims to provide a unified and powerful hardware platform for AI training and inference across Tesla's products. Key capabilities of the AI6 chip include integrating Tesla’s Dojo architecture directly into vehicles and robots, enabling a seamless connection between AI model training in data centers and real-time inferencing on devices.
Tesla's $16.5 billion deal with Samsung to manufacture the AI6 chip at Samsung's new semiconductor fab in Texas reflects a strategic partnership that benefits both companies. For Tesla, the deal enhances vertical integration by reducing dependency on third-party chipmakers, lowering costs, and giving them closer control over chip production quality and throughput. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, has personally committed to overseeing fab operations to accelerate progress.
For Samsung, this deal represents a significant boost as it secures a major AI chip client and strengthens its position in the AI semiconductor market amidst competitive pressures.
The AI6 chip is expected to be deployed initially in next-generation humanoid robots, enabling advanced real-time AI processing for robotics. In self-driving cars, while Tesla vehicles currently use AI4 and AI5 chips, AI6 is planned to unify hardware across products. Mass production is set for 2028+ and may initially focus on data centers and robots before fully transitioning into vehicles. This unified hardware will streamline software development and deployment for improved Full Self-Driving (FSD) capabilities.
In addition, the AI6 enhances Tesla’s supercomputing capabilities by allowing faster and more energy-efficient AI training, which in turn improves Tesla's autonomous driving algorithms and robot intelligence at a faster rate.
The manufacturing of the AI6 chip will take place at Samsung's Texas fabrication plant, a strategic win for Samsung's foundry business, which is currently behind TSMC in market share. The agreement between Tesla and Samsung will run from the present until the end of 2033.
It's worth noting that the AI5 chip, which was previously expected for production in 2025, has been delayed by a full year and is now expected to be produced at the end of 2026. Former Tesla chip architect Jim Keller has stated that Tesla would likely need a 5 to 10x performance jump over AI4 to achieve full self-driving capabilities. Tesla claims the AI6 chip can improve inference performance on current hardware by nearly 10x.
In conclusion, Tesla’s AI6 chip and the massive manufacturing deal with Samsung create a tightly integrated hardware-software ecosystem that is expected to accelerate Tesla’s leadership in autonomous driving, robotics, and AI development by maximizing efficiency, reducing costs, and enabling rapid innovation across multiple AI-dependent platforms.
- The AI6 chip, with its improved supercomputing capabilities, will not only speed up the training of Tesla's autonomous driving algorithms but also enhance the AI processing for their next-generation gaming applications, marking a significant advancement in technology.
- As part of Tesla's strategic partnership with Samsung, the AI6 chip will be manufactured at Samsung's data-and-cloud-computing-focused Texas fab, leveraging the latest 2nm MBCFET technology for better real-time neural network processing in gaming, AI, and robotics.
