Samsung's Taylor fab moves toward making Tesla's next AI chips
Equipment is going in at the $44B Central Texas plant as Samsung preps 2-nanometer production for Tesla's AI5 and AI6.
TAYLOR, Texas — Samsung is moving into the final run-up to chip production at its Central Texas foundry, holding an equipment-installation milestone in April ahead of mass production of Tesla's AI5 and AI6 autonomous-driving chips on a 2-nanometer process. The company has increased its investment in the Taylor site from an initial $17 billion to $44 billion.
Samsung has framed an end-of-2026 'start of production' as completing readiness for mass production, with full operations expected to follow into 2027. With Tesla's contracts locked — Elon Musk has said AI5 mass production should arrive around mid-2027 — Samsung Foundry is targeting 50,000 wafer starts per month at Taylor and is preparing a second fab at the cluster.
Why it matters
The Taylor fab has been the great unanswered question of Central Texas's chip ambitions, dogged by delays and a missing anchor customer. Tesla's commitment to build advanced AI silicon there gives the plant the demand it lacked and reasserts Texas as a leading-edge semiconductor location, not just a data-center landlord. Execution on a 2nm process — historically Samsung's weak spot against TSMC — is the variable to watch.
Start of production should be understood as completing preparations for mass production by the end of 2026.— Samsung Electronics, company statement
Reported by Next in Austin. Based on reporting from Tom's Hardware.
