It wasn’t way back that Elon Musk was a mainstay on the entrance web page.
In fact, Musk has by no means been shy about grabbing headlines. However the highlight on him acquired even brighter after he spent lots of of thousands and thousands to assist reelect Donald Trump.
Then Trump tapped Musk to move the brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), and for over 4 months you couldn’t keep away from listening to about his each transfer…
Even when you tried.
Musk spent 130 days touring companies, pushing finances cuts, firing leaders, rolling out deferred resignation schemes and maintaining his title within the headlines.
However ever since his stint as a particular authorities worker ended — and his temporary public feud with Trump fizzled out — Musk has been unusually quiet.
However that doesn’t imply he’s stopped making strikes.
Late final month, Musk introduced a deal that would put American manufacturing again on the map.
And it might additionally assist jumpstart a brand new period of U.S. industrial energy…
In-built Texas
Final week, Elon Musk introduced he’d signed a $16.5 billion provide settlement with Samsung that may change how — and the place — the following era of Tesla’s AI chips are made.
As an alternative of being manufactured in Samsung’s services in South Korea, these chips will likely be constructed proper right here in the US…
At a brand new foundry Samsung is establishing in Taylor, Texas.
In chipmaking, a “foundry” is a manufacturing unit that produces chips for firms that design, however don’t manufacture, their very own {hardware}.
Samsung’s Texas foundry is predicted to return on-line in 2026, with Tesla as its flagship buyer.
When it does, it’ll fabricate essentially the most superior chips Samsung has ever produced within the U.S.
These next-gen A16 chips have been particularly designed to energy Tesla’s most bold applied sciences.
We’re speaking about customized AI processors for self-driving, robotics and in-house knowledge facilities — the important thing applied sciences of the 4th industrial revolution.
And for the primary time, they’ll be made on American soil.
That’s as a result of producing these chips within the U.S. lowers Tesla’s vulnerability to world disruptions.
You see, till now many of the firm’s chip capability got here from Taiwan.
However within the post-Covid period, counting on fragile world provide chains is a strategic legal responsibility.
So Musk is taking a web page from Apple’s vertical integration playbook and tightening Tesla’s grip by itself provide chain.
Besides Musk is beginning even additional upstream. He’s serving to construct the manufacturing unit, not simply the tip product.
And by doing this, he’s additionally serving to Samsung climb again right into a promote it’s been slowly shedding.
Samsung’s foundry enterprise has lengthy trailed behind Taiwan’s TSMC (NYSE: TSM) in each scale and status. TSMC controls almost 70% of the worldwide third-party chipmaking market.
Samsung’s share is nearer to eight%.
The corporate has fallen behind partially due to execution points and delays. It additionally suffers from an absence of main shoppers prepared to take an opportunity on its latest processes.
That makes Samsung’s Texas partnership with Tesla a shot at a comeback.
It’s the largest contract in Samsung’s foundry historical past.
However the deal comes with some danger.
Samsung has struggled with yield points in its most superior processes. And working a cutting-edge U.S. fab at scale will likely be a logistical and regulatory problem.
Even with $6.4 billion in CHIPS Act subsidies, its revenue margins could also be skinny till the operation stabilizes.
However it’s a begin. And it provides each firms the sort of management they need.
Tesla needs to personal extra of its AI stack. Samsung needs to compete head-to-head with TSMC.
And this deal strikes each targets ahead.
By making this transfer, Musk can also be advancing the U.S. authorities’s broader targets, even when he not holds a proper title in D.C.
As a result of Trump is dedicated to bringing manufacturing again to the States.
And over the previous three months, we’ve seen the push to construct on U.S. soil choosing up pace.
Texas Devices is investing $60 billion to construct as much as seven semiconductor fabs throughout Texas and Utah.
LG Power Resolution is constructing LFP batteries in Michigan. That’s a $4.3 billion deal — with Tesla as its purchaser.
Common Motors and LG simply expanded their three way partnership in Tennessee to construct lower-cost battery cells.
And Ford recommitted to a $3 billion battery facility in Marshall, Michigan.
There have additionally been some huge wins in home manufacturing not too long ago.
Panasonic’s new battery plant in Kansas is already worthwhile, reporting a 47% bounce in first quarter earnings.
And even Foxconn’s Lordstown facility in Ohio, which was initially supposed to provide EVs, is now being repurposed to construct AI servers.
All these strikes level to the identical thesis that I’ve been pounding the desk about for months.
America is lastly beginning to rebuild the infrastructure it must compete within the subsequent industrial period.
Right here’s My Take
Because the 4th industrial revolution unfolds and world provide chains develop into much less predictable, we’re more likely to see extra firms observe Musk’s lead.
This $16.5 billion chip deal places Samsung’s U.S. foundry on the map, and it provides Tesla the provision chain leverage it wants.
It additionally provides momentum to a a lot bigger development that’s been constructing all yr.
As AI spreads into all the pieces from automobiles to manufacturing unit flooring, the demand for customized chips, superior batteries and localized manufacturing will surge.
I consider Musk’s cope with Samsung might set the tone for the 4th industrial revolution.
And we might begin to see extra frequent offers that deliver AI, robotics and even vitality provide chains again to the U.S.
If this development holds, the following nice tech wave gained’t simply be engineered in America…
It’ll be manufactured right here, too.
Regards,
Ian KingChief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing
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