Samsung Secures $16.5B Tesla Deal, Expands US Chip Production

According to the latest news, Samsung Electronics has made significant strides in its semiconductor business. The South Korean tech giant has signed a $16.5 billion deal with Elon Musk's Tesla, and it expects to secure additional orders from other large customers.

Samsung's new semiconductor factory in Texas is on track to start production in 2026, which is central to the company's strategy of expanding beyond its memory chip business into high-end contract chip manufacturing. This move aims to challenge the dominance of Taiwan's TSMC in the global semiconductor market.

However, Samsung's chip division has faced some challenges recently. In the second quarter of 2025, the division's operating profit plunged 94% from a year earlier, primarily due to delays in supplying the latest AI chips to Nvidia and U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductor sales to China.

Despite these setbacks, Samsung is optimistic about the industry's future. The company believes that the uncertainty has been reduced through the conclusion of a trade deal between the United States and South Korea. Samsung also expects the industry environment to improve in the second half of 2025, driven by increasing demand for AI chips from major cloud service providers.