Samsung Foundry division secured a major win by signing a deal worth $16.5 billion with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The South Korean giant will be responsible for manufacturing the next-generation AI chip, the AI6 chip. This is a big win for the foundry division, considering it’s falling behind TSMC for the past couple of years. In what can be seen as another big win, Samsung could be close to securing a new deal, and this time it’s for xAI‘s first AI chip.
Samsung could manufacture xAI’s first AI chip
Samsung has seen a significant momentum in the chip division in recent times, courtesy of the deal with Tesla. It has also managed to secure orders for Apple’s advanced imaging sensors, signaling a positive development. The Korean outlet BusinessPost now claims that Samsung could be a candidate for manufacturing Elon Musk-owned xAI’s custom AI chips. It appears that the billion-dollar entrepreneur has a liking for Samsung.
The report notes that Samsung is moving toward reviving its foundry, and a big part of it includes ramping up the production of 2nm.
Details regarding the chip are not available yet
AI companies like xAI and OpenAI are investing big bucks in hardware, with the focus on custom AI chips. This means they’ll have to work with either Samsung or TSMC to make them. However, details regarding xAI’s first custom chip are not available at the moment. The company recently posted a job listing for a custom silicon developer, suggesting its interest in developing custom ASICs for its AI workloads.
Elon Musk previously mentioned that the $16.5 billion deal with Samsung was an initial estimate. This means the actual figure could be a lot more, depending on how things progress. With domestic manufacturing a major requirement in the US right now, Samsung has an advantage here as it plans to produce the Tesla chips in its Texas facility. Adding to this is that Samsung is also reportedly planning to introduce the 2nm process at the facility.
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