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All other automakers have to cut production, only Tesla continues as usual. How does Elon Musk do it?
In the third quarter of 2021, Tesla set another production and delivery record: almost 240,000 cars were built, more than ever in a single quarter. And that despite the global shortage of semiconductors, which is the auto production of most other manufacturers (such as VW in Wolfsburg) severely restricts. How does Tesla do it?
The American bank Morgan Stanley has a statement that Teslarati now reports. In a notice to investors entitled "How Did Tesla Find Chips?" you can read how Tesla managed to avoid production stoppages.
The easiest solution to the problem is that Tesla is one of the car companies with the greatest vertical integration, that is, with the greatest vertical integration. Tesla produces many parts itself, including the seats, for example. Elon Musk himself recently confirmed this principle in a tweet:
Tesla also follows this principle with the chips, like the manufacturer already stated on the conference call on the second quarter financial results. At that time it was said that Tesla simply produces the chips that are missing on the world market itself:
"Our team has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to respond quickly and mitigate production stoppages due to semiconductor shortages. Our electrical and firmware engineering teams continue to work hard to design, develop and respond to the ongoing semiconductor shortage with 19 new controller variants validate. "
The microcontrollers mentioned are chips that not only contain a processor but also peripherals, for example the main memory – Tesla probably uses the term simply as a synonym for chips.
The article by our US colleague Steven Loveday helped us to understand the second point ("sophistication"). After that, Tesla will not use normal field-forest-and-meadow chips like those used by most automakers, but only those with the latest technology. That means: Tesla does not have to compete with other corporations for the scarce normal chips.
The third point is negotiations: the ability to produce its own chips improves the position of the US manufacturer in negotiations with semiconductor manufacturers.
The fourth and last point, economies of scale, is also easy to understand: Tesla is still growing rapidly, so that the semiconductor manufacturer Tesla counts among the "strategic" customers despite its small size, as Morgan Stanley writes.
More news about Tesla: 
Tesla Model 2: The $ 25,000 model as a rendering
Panasonic: The 4680 batteries are the next level
So far, Tesla’s success has rested on just two car plants, the Tesla Factory in Fremont (California) and the Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, with both plants contributing roughly the same amount:
Two other large plants, the Gigafactory 4 in Grunheide and Giga 5 in Texas, should go into operation soon – probably by the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022. And then another wave of Tesla cars could roll onto the market. Tesla specialist Troy Teslike believes there could be 1.3 million units in 2022 as a whole.
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