Samsung signs contract to supply camera modules to US EV company

Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. has signed a contract to supply camera modules for vehicles to the US electric vehicle company. The company is believed to be Tesla.

Following Samsung Electronics Co.'s consignment production of chips for Tesla's autonomous driving vehicles, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has even won camera modules, which is said to be strengthening "future car cooperation" between Samsung and Tesla.

"We have signed a contract to supply camera modules to the US automaker. The quantity and amount of supply have not been determined," Samsung Electro-Mechanics announced in a public announcement on Monday.

Although it did not specify the automobile company, the contracting party is known to be Tesla.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is expected to supply camera modules to major passenger cars and cyber trucks such as Tesla's models S, 3, X and Y.

The camera module mounted on the car is a part that takes pictures of road signals, signs and obstacles and sends them to an autonomous driving chip that serves as the brain of an electric vehicle.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is expected to supply ultra-high-definition products with more than 5 million pixels to Tesla.

With this order, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has become a key supplier of Tesla components. Tesla is known to have decided on the supplier, focusing on maximizing the camera module specifications for electric vehicles to be released in the future.

Collaboration between Samsung and Tesla is also expected to be strengthened. Samsung Electronics' foundry division will commission more than half of Tesla's next-generation autonomous chip HW5.0.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com