Tesla’s next wave of in-house AI chips may be getting pulled into America’s semiconductor politics.
A new report claims Tesla is considering moving production of its higher-end AI6.5 chip away from TSMC and over to Intel’s Arizona fabs, allegedly due to pressure from the Trump administration. If true, this would be a major shift for Tesla’s chip roadmap — and a pretty big publicity win for Intel, which is still trying to prove it can compete properly in advanced foundry manufacturing.
For Malaysian and SEA tech followers, this is not just some faraway US chip drama. These chips power Tesla’s AI ambitions, including autonomous driving and robotics. Any delay, yield issue, or manufacturing shake-up can eventually affect product timelines, feature rollouts, and the wider AI hardware market that influences everything from EVs to data centres.
What Tesla Originally Planned
Back in April, Elon Musk said Tesla’s AI5 chip had taped out, and also laid out the early plan for the next generation. According to that earlier roadmap, the AI6 chip was expected to be made at Samsung’s 2nm fab in Arizona, while the more advanced AI6.5 version would be fabricated by TSMC at its own Arizona campus.
Tesla’s AI6 is currently scheduled to tape out in December 2026, with AI6.5 expected to follow a couple of months later. These chips are supposed to bring a serious jump over AI5, with reports pointing to roughly 2x the performance while keeping the same reticle size.
A big part of that improvement reportedly comes from memory design. Musk previously said both AI6 and AI6.5 dedicate about half of their TRIP AI computation accelerators to SRAM, giving much higher effective memory bandwidth for calculations that can stay inside cache instead of relying on DRAM. The chips are also expected to use LPDDR6 memory.
In simple terms: Tesla is trying to make its AI hardware faster without simply making the chip physically larger. That matters because chip size, yields, power, and cost are all deeply connected.
Where Intel Comes In
The latest claim comes via tipster Jukan, who highlighted a Weibo-based source saying Tesla may transfer the TSMC portion of AI6/AI6.5 production to Intel under “pressure and insistence” from the Trump administration.
The political angle is important here. The report frames Intel as a key part of the US push to bring advanced chipmaking back onto American soil. It also claims the Trump administration, after taking a stake in Intel, has been encouraging major companies like Apple and Tesla to use Intel foundry services.
That would be huge for Intel. Landing Tesla as a customer — especially for a high-profile AI chip — would make Intel look far more credible as a foundry player. It is one thing to say your advanced nodes are ready. It is another thing to have Apple or Tesla publicly associated with them.
But This Is Still A Big ‘If’
Here’s the thing: moving from TSMC is not a small decision.
Tesla has reportedly depended heavily on TSMC for AI5 production, with Samsung acting more like a backup option. TSMC remains the most trusted name for advanced chip manufacturing, even if its capacity is tight. Intel, meanwhile, is still proving itself in the advanced foundry game, and the report itself notes concerns around untested nodes and yield issues.
So while the political pressure angle is believable in the current US chip environment, the business logic is less straightforward. Tesla will care about performance, delivery, yields, and risk. If Intel cannot match what Tesla needs, a full shift would be difficult to justify.
Why SEA Readers Should Watch This
Malaysia is already part of the global semiconductor chain, especially in testing, packaging, and electronics manufacturing. When giant companies reshuffle chip suppliers, the impact can ripple across the region.
For consumers, this kind of supply chain move can influence how quickly AI-powered features reach cars, robots, and future devices. For the tech industry, it shows how chip manufacturing is no longer just about engineering — it is also about geopolitics, national strategy, and who gets priority access to advanced fabs.
For now, treat this as an early report, not confirmed fact. But if Tesla really moves AI6.5 from TSMC to Intel, that would be one of the more interesting semiconductor plot twists heading into 2026.
Source: Wccftech Gaming