Tesla has started using a new AMD chip in new Model Y vehicles in China after also moving to AMD in the new Model S.
Automakers have been struggling to secure chip supply and computer power for their vehicles over the last year.
Shortages have led to production halts across the industry.
Tesla has been no exception, but it has fair much better than most as it managed to still grow its production significantly over the same period.
To help alleviate the need for chips, Tesla pivoted to microcontrollers for some subsystems.
But the automaker still needs some good old processing power and graphic cards.
Tesla has always been extremely focused on improving computing power in its vehicles, which people often call “computer on wheels” these days.
Much of the focus has been on its chips for self-driving, which the automaker ended up designing itself, but Tesla also has been updating its chips for its entertainment system (MCU).
At first, Tesla was partnering with Nvidia, then moved to Intel, and it now looks like the automaker might be moving to AMD, a large American semiconductor company.
As we reported this week, Tesla started deliveries of the Model Y Performance produced at Gigafactory Shanghai.
Now that it is in the hands of customers, we learn that Tesla is now using an AMD Ryzen chip for the Model Y Performance’s MCU:
It’s not clear if only the new Model Y Performance is using the AMD chip, but all variants of a Tesla vehicle generally use the same onboard computer.
Interestingly, Tesla also used AMD to power the new entertainment computer in the new refreshed Model S.
In that case, the automaker needed a lot of power since it claims the same computing power as the latest generation gaming consoles.
It looks like AMD is becoming a more important partner for Tesla and it will be interesting to see if more vehicles switch to AMD chips.
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