Behind this Tesla stratospheric figure will finally keep a 10-year old promise?

The semiconductor industry has just recorded one of its biggest contracts in the decade: Tesla has formalized a. Therefore, monumental agreement with Samsung on 16.5 billion dollarsstretched until 2033. Furthermore, Behind this colossal amount. Moreover, it is all the stake of the battle around the on -board artificial intelligence which takes shape: it is indeed a question of manufacturing, in Texas, the Puce AI6 of next behind this tesla stratospheric figure generation supposed to give, finally, to the Californian brand the key to real autonomy, The one that Musk has been promising for almost a decade.

Again. For example, again the promise of autonomous driving

Tesla is now trusting Samsung to make Texas from 2026 her future generation of artificial intelligence chips,a famous ai6. Meanwhile, An entire dedicated factory, eight years of contracts, billions for each iteration: this is the extent of the issue. The partnership is very timely for Samsung. Faced with fierce competition and financial results at half mast (fall of 56 % over a year of its operating profit due to export restrictions to China imposed by the United States) but which thus finds a lever to occupy the land of high-end ia chips, in particular in the face of these competitors SK Hynix and TSMC.

To understand the implications. you have to come back to this obsession with behind this tesla stratospheric figure Tesla: The promise of a car that could one day be completely a human driver. Since 2016, the manufacturer has multiplied the declarations, ensuring that each vehicle produced was “ready” for full autonomous driving. At the time. it was hardware called HW2; Then HW3, then HW4, each generation supposed to erase the limits of the previous one. But the technical reality has proven to be more complex: Not only HW2 proved to be unfit for “full self-driving”. but HW3, then HW4 never really offered this possibility, Limiting itself to level 2 assisted driving. The manufacturer has recognized lips since these first platforms will never allow the promised autonomy. despite thunderous announcements and on-board customers with full self-driving options up to $ 15,000.

Even more problematic: The thorny question of customers equipped with HW3 (and HW2). For a long time. Tesla said that migration to the “Full self-driving” would be offered to behind this tesla stratospheric figure all the owners who bought ad hoc software. But in the meantime. number of buyers had to pay $ 1,000 to $ 1,500 For the replacement of a computer whose brand had promised compatibility, when others have seized justice or obtained partial reimbursements. Today. over the generations, the owners therefore find themselves with vehicles which almost systematically require a future material upgrade to benefit from the promised updates. More disturbing: at the conference investors in the second quarter. the financial director Vaibhav Taneja himself admitted that the priority was now to operate autonomous driving “not supervised” on HW4, therefore relegating HW3 to Greek calendars.