Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced that he had a video call with Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, with whom Tesla has signed a $16.5 billion contract for the production of artificial intelligence (AI) chips, to discuss potential avenues for cooperation.
On July 29 (local time), Musk made this statement on his social networking service, X (formerly Twitter), in response to a user who claimed that Samsung was unaware of Tesla's future semiconductor production plans.
This X user shared Musk's post from July 27, in which Musk had written, "Samsung has agreed to help Tesla maximize manufacturing efficiency," and commented, "Samsung has no idea what they signed up for."
Musk replied, "They do. I had a video call with Samsung's chairman and senior management to discuss what a real partnership would look like."
He added, "We will leverage the strengths of both companies to achieve great results."
In response to another X user who wrote, "Samsung Electronics lags behind TSMC in chip manufacturing technology. It is uncertain whether Samsung can realize the new 2nm (nanometer) technology to be applied to Tesla's AI6 chip. If Samsung cannot deliver, the AI6 may also be produced with TSMC," Musk defended Samsung. He stated, "Both TSMC and Samsung are great companies," and added, "It is an honor to work with them."
Previously, following the announcement of Samsung Electronics' large-scale foundry contract, Musk revealed on X that the contract partner was Tesla, stating, "Samsung's large new plant in Texas will be dedicated to producing Tesla's next-generation AI6 chips. The strategic importance of this cannot be overstated." He also commented, "The $16.5 billion figure is just a minimum," and added, "Actual production volume is likely to be several times higher."
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