[News] Korean Chip Engineer Accuses Tesla of Pressuring Samsung on AI5/AI6 Pricing, Poaching Talent for Terafab

What happened

According to Wccftech, a South Korean semiconductor engineer using the X handle @TTHUEONE accused Tesla of demanding access to Samsung's internal fab information and audit rights for its AI5 and AI6 chip contracts while aggressively pushing down foundry prices; the engineer also alleged that Terafab had poached numerous employees from Samsung's Taylor fab in Texas and that Tesla turned to Samsung Foundry for its AI5 and AI6 chips because TSMC would not meet its demands. Earlier this week, Musk praised Micron, saying the company 'has been reasonable regarding future memory prices, while others have been extortionate,' remarks widely interpreted as criticism of Samsung. As background: Business Post warned in March that Terafab (planned site about a 30-minute drive from Samsung's Taylor foundry) could intensify competition for talent and equipment and flagged risks to Samsung's intellectual property and manufacturing know-how; Financial News reported on October 12 that Samsung has begun deploying advanced-node yield engineers from South Korea to its Taylor facility while expanding local recruitment ahead of planned 2nm mass production in 2027, aiming to begin operating the fab by the end of 2026, with Tesla among key customers; Seoul Economic Daily reported in September that Samsung had begun trial production of Tesla's AI5 chips at the facility with yield verification underway ahead of full-scale production in 2027. AsiaToday earlier reported that Tesla's AI5 and AI6 orders are expected to support initial capacity utilization at the Taylor fab, and that TSMC's potential involvement in Terafab could complicate Samsung's efforts to secure future chip orders. TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei confirmed the company is in discussions over Terafab, though the outcome remains uncertain, and emphasized that any fab involving TSMC would have to be operated by the company itself; per Reuters, Musk said on October 7 that his companies would build and operate Terafab, with TSMC potentially subleasing part of the facility rather than taking an operational role.

Impact and signal

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Source and time

Source: TrendForce · 10/15/2026 · View original source