Samsung Electronics' semiconductor fab is under construction in Taylor, Texas, in this file photo from Feb. 14, 2025. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics will soon begin operations at its foundry fab in Taylor, Texas, with preparations underway to churn out artificial intelligence (AI) chips for Tesla by using its 2-nanometer process.
According to industry officials Sunday, Samsung Electronics will hold an equipment installation ceremony for the Taylor site on Friday. Samsung Electronics’ Foundry Business President Han Jin-man and other key officials from the semiconductor supply chain will attend the ceremony.
To expand its foundry capacity in the U.S., Samsung Electronics broke ground on its Taylor fab in November 2022 with an initial $17 billion investment. The facility was initially scheduled to begin operations in October 2024, but the timeline was delayed due to setbacks in securing orders.
The Tesla AI5 chip bears the marking “KR 2613” at the bottom right, indicating the prototype was manufactured in Korea in the 13th week of 2026, in In this screenshot of a post by Elon Musk on X, formerly Twitter. Captured from Musk’s X
The fab’s preparations picked up speed after Samsung Electronics last July clinched a $16.5 billion order from Tesla to fabricate its AI5 and AI6 chips for self-driving systems. Since then, the chipmaker has been deploying workers in charge of advanced process technologies to the Taylor fab, and recently expanded deployment to include mass production staff.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on April 15 congratulated Tesla’s AI chip design team for “taping out AI5,” expressing gratitude to TSMC and Samsung Electronics “for your support in bringing this chip to production.” Taping out means a chip’s design process was completed and it is ready for mass production.
With the Taylor fab, Samsung Electronics seeks a rebound in its foundry business, which has been piling up losses for years. Along with Tesla’s AI 5 and 6 chips, Samsung will produce image sensors for Apple’s iPhones at its fab in Austin. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said during GTC 2026 last month that Samsung Electronics is manufacturing the next-generation Groq 3 language processing unit inference chip.
Samsung Electronics’ capabilities as an integrated chipmaker appear to have played a key role in securing a string of orders. Musk said on social media that Tesla’s AI6 chips will incorporate low-power double data rate memory, suggesting that Samsung’s strength in memory chips likely factored into Musk’s selection of Samsung Electronics.
“Samsung Electronics’ foundry business is expected to have narrowed its operating loss to 376.9 billion won ($256.78 million) in the first quarter of this year, improving from 1.9 trillion won a year earlier,” said Samsung Securities analyst Lee Jong-wook. “Utilization rates are expected to exceed 80 percent. … With wafer prices continuing their upward trend, a quarterly turnaround appears possible as early as the third quarter.”
Source: Korea Times News
