Samsung CEO Lee Jae-Yong and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have reportedly met to discuss a potential collaboration, which could see the two companies merge to develop high-performance chips for fully autonomous vehicles. As the global market for automotive electronic components, including semiconductors, is projected to grow to $400 billion by 2024 and $700 billion by 2028, it seems like a logical next step in the forecasts.
The discussions between Lee and Musk are believed to have also included plans for the development of next-generation IT technologies, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. Samsung’s prospects have remained poor for the time being, with chip production declining sharply since the beginning of the year. Therefore, the expansion of chip production for autonomous driving could be a way to turn things around.
In April, Samsung received an order from Intel’s subsidiary, the Israeli company Mobileye, for semiconductors to support “advanced driver assistance systems”. Samsung will produce chips for the current EveQ 5 generation, which Mobileye says will be used by BMW and Geely since 2021. It is not yet known whether the collaboration with Tesla will produce its own SoC in the future.
Lee met with over 20 CEOs of US companies during his 22-day tour of the United States, including Microsoft CEOs Satya Nadella and Alphabet Sundar Pichai. The meeting between Lee and Musk was the two executives’ first private meeting and took place at Samsung’s research center in Silicon Valley. The center has been open since 2015 and appears to be an ideal location for the meeting.
