Tesla has already inked a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung's foundry division for the production of its next-generation self-driving chips. While Tesla once used to be the dominant global EV maker, it has since been overtaken by China's BYD.
BYD and Samsung are now believed to be in discussions, whereby the global leader in EVs may have its self-driving chips made by Samsung.
China's Nio already has Samsung-made chips in its vehicles
A new report claims that Samsung's foundry division is involved in talks with BYD as well as other Chinese EV manufacturers. It's seeking deals for the production of self-driving chips. These discussions involves production on Samsung's 4nm and advanced 2nm processes.
China has a lot of EV makers and most of their models come with some level of advanced driving aids. Therefore, the demand for these advanced chips is steadily increasing, and Samsung is one of the few companies that can meet it.
It's believed that foundry service providers in China can't deliver advanced production capacity in the quantity that local EV makers require. They are now having to look elsewhere, such as to Samsung, to meet their demand.
If this deal does pan out, it won't be Samsung's first dance with a Chinese EV company. The self-driving chips in many Nio models are already being produced on Samsung's 5nm process. It would deliver a major boost for Samsung foundry which has for years held on to under utilized production capacity that cost it billions in lost revenue.
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