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Tesla shares have been losing ground for over a month now, with the retreat largely a function of Elon Musk's growing political role and Tesla's slowing sales momentum, particularly in the EU. While some sales stagnation was expected as Tesla retires the older Model Y in favor of its latest iteration, dubbed Juniper, the sheer loss of sales momentum that we've witnessed in recent weeks have prompted some analysts to blame the politicization and the attendant deterioration in the EV giant's brand image. Yet, Tesla continues to bravely soldier on.
REPORTEDLY, TESLA TAPS TSMC FOR NEW FSD CHIPS IN CHINA$TSLA's Full Self-Driving is rolling out in mainland China, and industry sources suggest $TSM has secured orders for Tesla’s new FSD chips, built on the 4nm-5nm process. Meanwhile, Samsung is still supporting the older FSD… pic.twitter.com/77wVoZ2PI3
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) February 28, 2025
To wit, MoneyUDN is now reporting that Tesla has tapped TSMC to manufacture its latest FSD chips on the 3nm - 4nm process, while Samsung will continue to produce the older iterations of the autonomous mobility-enabling chip.
Of course, Tesla's Dojo supercomputer, which trains the EV giant's neural net, already leverages chips built on TSMC's 7nm process.
This report comes as Tesla is now rolling out a software update in China, enabling enhanced driver assistance on city roads, automatic lane changes, traffic sign recognition, and an updated package of local maps. These features, however, require HW4 cars and an upgrade to the Autopilot subscription package.
Meanwhile, Tesla continues to move towards its goal of launching its unsupervised FSD service by June 2025 in Austin, Texas, and, soon after, in California as well. After all, Bloomberg is now reporting that Tesla has sought approval to launch a ride-hailing service in the Golden State.
NEWS: Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said he was left "speechless" after he spent an hour this week being driven in a robotaxi in London.
Adam rode in a development vehicle from Wayve that used 7 cameras, no radar, no LIDAR, no HD maps and no labeling. It was all end-to-end… pic.twitter.com/zz28Ni3f1H
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 27, 2025
Do note, however, that Tesla's competition is also rapidly catching up. While Tesla bulls are quick to dismiss Waymo's robotaxis as overly reliant on an expensive array of sensors and extensively mapped out routes, it is much more difficult to be as nonchalant about Wayve's robotaxi service, whose cars come equipped with 7 cameras, but no radar, LiDAR, HD maps, or labeling.
This gels with a recent investment note from Needham, whose analysts postulate that Tesla's longer-dated growth levers, particularly in relation to the FSD, robotaxis, and the Optimus humanoid robot, are "more priced in than not," and that the EV giant is operating from a "trailing position" in the autonomous ridesharing and robotics spheres.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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