Samsung is producing 2nm wafers for Tesla's next generation AI5 chip at its Taylor, Texas facility, reaching a utilization rate of 30% this month. The ramp-up beats a planned November start date and follows a chip tape-out in July. These initial runs focus on trial production and yield verification for hardware Tesla uses in Model 3 and Y vehicles, the Cybercab robotaxi, Optimus humanoid robots, and AI data centers.

The acceleration leverages a $16.5 billion semiconductor supply agreement signed last year. While TSMC also produces different implementations of the AI5 chip for large-scale production in 2027, Samsung is preparing a second Taylor fab with groundbreaking by the end of 2026. That second site targets a 1.4nm process and operations in 2030 to capture AI chip volume as TSMC's advanced node capacity remains full.