Elon Musk Confirms Samsung’s $16.5B Chip Deal Is With Tesla: ‘I Will Walk The Line Personally To Accelerate Pace Of Progress’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed late Sunday that his EV company is the big customer behind Samsung Electronics’ 22.8 trillion won ($16.5 billion) semiconductor manufacturing agreement, according to a post on X.

Earlier in the day, Samsung announced that it had secured a chipmaking contract with a global company, which will run through the end of 2033. 

While the company did not name the client, Bloomberg reported the customer is Tesla, citing a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity.

"Samsung’s giant new Texas fab will be dedicated to making Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip," Musk said, adding that the "strategic importance of this is hard to overstate."

"Samsung currently makes AI4. TSMC will make AI5, which just finished design, initially in Taiwan and then [in] Arizona," he wrote on X. 

Musk also noted that “Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency,” calling it a “critical point,” and said, “I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house.”

Samsung’s shares in Seoul rose as much as 3.5% on the day, marking their biggest intraday gain in nearly four weeks.

The deal is a much-needed boost for Samsung’s foundry business, which has been struggling with low order volumes and underused capacity. 

That’s a sharp contrast to rival TSMC, which is still struggling to meet the demand it can handle. In the first quarter of 2025, TSMC continued to dominate the global chip foundry space, grabbing a massive 67.6% market share, according to TrendForce. Meanwhile, Samsung lost some ground, with its share dipping to 7.7% from 8.1% the previous quarter.

Samsung and TSMC are both working toward 2-nanometer chip fabrication technology. The deal with Tesla is seen as a vote of confidence in Samsung’s next-generation manufacturing capabilities.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for Samsung Electronics was ‘bullish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume.

South Korean shares of Samsung Electronics have risen 27.3% so far this year, while its U.S.-listed stock has risen by about 9%.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.