Samsung's 2nm process lands Tesla AI5 chip at Texas fab, marking foundry breakthrough

Samsung's Texas fab enters production for Tesla's AI5 chip on 2nm

Samsung has completed its own version of Tesla's AI5 self-driving chip and is preparing to start production at its foundry in Taylor, Texas, on the company's latest 2-nanometer process, according to industry officials. The move confirms Samsung is building AI5 on 2nm -- a node that had been expected to debut with Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip, not this one. What Samsung revealed The disclosure came from James Kim, a principal engineer at Samsung Foundry, who wrote on LinkedIn that "the Tesla-Samsung AI5 chip has reached tape-out" and is "scheduled to be manufactured at the Taylor fab using our latest 2nm process and will soon be integrated into Tesla's newest products." Kim deleted the post after it was picked up by Korean news reports. Tape-out marks the point at which a chip's design is locked and handed over for manufacturing. From there, the design goes through prevalidation, photomask production, and wafer fabrication to create engineering samples, which must pass qualification with the customer before entering mass production. We reported in April that Musk said Tesla had taped out AI5 to both Samsung and TSMC, with each foundry producing "slightly different versions" of the chip because, in his words, "they translate designs to physical form differently." Kim's post indicates Samsung has now fit that design to its own process and is ready to produce actual silicon. Musk has already shown off a Samsung-made prototype. The AI5 chip he posted on X carried the marking "KR 2613," indicating it was made in Korea in the 13th week of 2026 -- evidence that Samsung's engineering samples were already coming out of its Korean lines before the Texas fab took over. The 2nm surprise The detail that stands out here is the process node. The working assumption across the industry -- and our own prior reporting -- was that Samsung's 2nm line was tied to the follow-on AI6 chip, while AI5 would be built on more mature nodes at TSMC. Kim's post says AI5 itself is going on 2nm at Taylor. That matters because Samsung's 2nm yields have been the gating problem. We reported earlier this year that AI6 had already slipped roughly six months on Samsung 2nm yield issues, pushing its mass production to Q4 2027 at the earliest. Putting AI5 on the same node supports market assumptions that Samsung's 2nm yield has now crossed 60% -- the rough threshold where the process becomes viable for a high-volume customer like Tesla. Samsung held an equipment installation ceremony at the Taylor fab in April and has said it expects volume production of Tesla's AI chips there in the second half of 2027. More at stake for Samsung than Tesla For Samsung, landing Tesla's AI5 on 2nm is a proof point it badly needs. The company has trailed TSMC on advanced-node yield for years, and Taylor was a multibillion-dollar bet that has been searching for anchor customers. There are signs it's starting to pay off. Recent reports suggest Anthropic could manufacture its own AI chips through Samsung Foundry, and improving yields are exactly what would let Samsung pull in more customers of that caliber. Samsung declined to comment on anything related to its customers. Electrek's Take If Samsung is confident enough to run AI5 on 2nm at Taylor, its yield story is improving, and that's good for anyone who wants a real second source to TSMC at the leading edge. For Tesla, though, the same caveat applies as in April: tape-out and early production are milestones, not the finish line. Musk himself has said Tesla needs "several hundred thousand completed AI5 boards line side" before it can switch vehicle production over, and that volume isn't expected until mid-2027. Engineering samples coming off a Texas line in 2026 don't change that. But from Tesla's point of view, it doesn't need AI5 to achieve unsupervised autonomy at scale. Of course, we heard that about HW3 before, and now AI4 and the company have yet to achieve unsupervised autonomy at scale. And the bigger pattern still stands. AI5 is arriving nearly two years after Musk first said it would be in vehicles, the Cybercab is launching on old AI4 hardware, and the AI4.5 stopgap computer quietly added to new Model Ys exists precisely because AI5 kept slipping. If you're a Tesla owner, powering your EV with home solar is one of the smartest ways to lock in low fuel costs. With electricity rates climbing nearly 10% last year, home solar protects you against future rate increases. And with lease and PPA options, you can go solar with zero upfront cost and start saving immediately. If you want to find the best deal, check out EnergySage. It's a free service with hundreds of pre-vetted installers competing for your business, so you save 20 to 30% compared to going it alone. No sales calls until you pick an installer. Get your free quotes here.

Samsung's 2nm Node Lands Tesla's AI5 Chip at Its Texas Taylor Fab, Silencing Yield Doubters

Tesla is all set to begin production of its AI5 chip on Samsung's 2nm process technology after a successful tapeout back in April. Samsung & TSMC To Produce Tesla's AI5 Chip With The Former Leveraging Its 2nm Capabilities Last month, Elon Musk announced the successful tape-out of its AI5 AI chip. Elon shared pictures of the chip, featuring a large primary die in the middle that will handle all of the compute and 12 DRAM modules on the outskirts, offering high capacity and efficiency-optimized bandwidth. The DRAM modules in the picture are from SK hynix, and while the DRAM SKU ID is not readable, we can see the chip was taped out in the 13th week of 2026, which is between 23rd March and 29th March. As per the latest reports from Yonhap News and The Guru, the AI5 chip will largely be built on Samsung's 2nm process technology at its Taylor Fab in Texas, US. It is yet to be confirmed what process technology the chip will use at TSMC fabs, but the leveraging of Samsung's 2nm node gives the Korean semiconductor giant a big boost to its chipmaking endeavors, and brings a lot of confidence in the highly debated status of its 2nm manufacturing capabilities. According to industry sources on the 13th, Kim Jeong-gon, a senior engineer at Samsung Foundry, posted on his LinkedIn on the 11th (local time) that "the Tesla-Samsung AI5 chip has entered the tape-out stage (the stage where the design is completed and the blueprints are handed over to the foundry plant)." He added, "This chip is scheduled to be produced at the Taylor plant using a 2nm process and will soon be installed in Tesla's latest products." via The Guru AI5 is the follow-up to HW4 and will arrive as a next-gen FSD solution for Tesla. In a previous talk, Elon Musk stated that AI5 will offer a monumental 40x improvement over the HW4 chip, with 8x raw compute capabilities, 9x memory, and will deliver brand-new features. The chip itself is expected to offer close to 2500 TOPS of AI compute, 144 GB of memory per chip, and is designed with the latest transformer engine in mind. But there's more, Elon Musk has also stated previously that solving AI5 was an existential task for Tesla & it will be a very capable AI chip and AI platform. AI5 will be offered in multiple configurations, one being a single-SOC that rivals NVIDIA's Hopper, and then a dual-SOC design that rivals Blackwell while costing much less to produce and using way less power. So we can expect some competitive Perf/$ & Perf/W versus NVIDIA's latest AI offerings. The chip is expected to be manufactured at TSMC and Samsung, with high-volume production slated for late 2026 or early 2027. Elon has shared plans to move next-gen chip production to the upcoming TeraFab, but its announcement is still pending. Meanwhile, Elon also confirms that work is already underway on the next-generation Tesla AI6 chip and Dojo3. Since Tesla announced a return to form in the chipmaking business, the plans for Dojo3 are back on track. Tesla resumed the plans for the Supercomputer project back in January 2026, and with Terafab operational and developing DRAM, Packaging, and Chips, all under one roof, this goal should not be far away now. News Source: Trendforce Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.

Samsung Taylor fab enters production phase for Tesla's AI5 chip - The Korea Times

Samsung Electronics' Taylor fab in Texas / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics has completed designing its version of Tesla's AI5 chip for self-driving systems, with production set to begin soon at its foundry fab in Taylor, Texas, according to industry officials, Monday. James Kim, a principal engineer at Samsung Foundry, wrote on LinkedIn that "the Tesla-Samsung AI5 chip has reached tape-out" and it is "scheduled to be manufactured at the Taylor fab using our latest 2-nanometer process and will soon be integrated into Tesla's newest products." He deleted the post after news reports. Tape-out marks the completion of a chip's design process, meaning the design has been finalized and handed over for manufacturing. After passing the pre-validation stage, the taped-out design is used to produce photomasks and undergo wafer fabrication to create engineering samples, which then go through the qualification process with customers before entering mass production. In April, Elon Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Tesla's AI5 team has taped out the chip's design to Samsung Electronics and TSMC for foundry manufacturing. Musk said that slightly different versions of the chip will be made at the two companies because "they translate designs to physical form differently." Based on the design, Samsung Electronics has been working on to fit it into its own process, and Kim's post shows that it is now ready for producing actual samples and mass production will soon come. There have been speculations that Samsung will use its 2-nanometer process starting with Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip, but Kim's post indicated that the AI5 will be manufactured on the 2-nanometer process, supporting the market assumption that Samsung's 2-nanometer yield has exceeded 60 percent. The development comes as recent reports have suggested that Anthropic could manufacture its own artificial intelligence (AI) chips through Samsung Foundry, adding to optimism that improving yields could help the company attract more customers. Samsung declined to comment on matters related to its customers.