SEOUL, July 30 (UPI) -- South Korea's Samsung Electronics announced it has signed a $16.5 billion, eight-year contract to supply semiconductors to an unnamed global company, noting full details will be disclosed on Jan. 3, 2033.
Just hours later on Tuesday, however, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla was the buyer and Samsung's new Texas factory, which is being built, will produce next-generation AI processor A16 chips for Tesla.
Samsung, which rolls out A14 chips, lost out on the A15 chip deal to archrival TSMC, but managed to succeed in A16 chips. Samsung's Texas foundry is a flagship project in its plan to invest more than $37 billion in the United States by 2030.
"Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress," Musk said in a post on X.
The announcement prompted investors to snap up Samsung shares, and its stock price has jumped more than 11% on the Seoul bourse. The world's largest memory chipmaker has underperformed in the stock market due to challenges in the advanced high-bandwidth memory business.
