Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Samsung Taylor fab enters production phase for Tesla's AI5 chip
Samsung Electronics' Taylor fab in Texas / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Nam Hyun-woo
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 on 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 2nm (nanometer) process and will soon be integrated into Tesla's newest products.” He deleted the post after news reports.
K-002.png
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 prevalidation 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 to fit it into its own process, and Kim’s post shows that it is now ready for producing actual samples, with mass production expected soon.
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 this screenshot of a post by Elon Musk on X, formerly Twitter. Captured from Musk’s X
There has been speculation 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 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.