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Faraday Future’s fate questioned after Chinese backer sells Silicon Valley land amid cash crunch
One of Faraday Future’s financial backers, LeEco, the electric vehicle company run by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, is selling 49-acre plot of land located in Silicon Valley after purchasing it from Yahoo for $250 million less than a year ago. The parcel is reportedly being sold to Chinese developer Genzon Group for $260 million amid a “big company disease” and cash crunch, according to Reuters.
News of the pending sale is a far departure from the initial plans Jia had for the parcel of land last year. Speaking at a gala event at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Jia told his audience that the land in Silicon Valley would be used to build the US headquarters for LeEco. “This property will be an EcoCity that houses 12,000 employees,” he claimed at the time.
Jia made his money by building Leshi Internet Information & Technology in 2004. Known as the “Netflix of China,” it was the first company in China to stream television content directly to subscribers. It quickly expanded to producing and selling a wide range of electronic devices from smartphones to televisions.
Things went well for Jia until he became obsessed with the idea of building electric cars. Not only is Jia the head and principal financial backer of LeEco, a Chinese electric car company, he is also the force behind Faraday Future, and an investor in Lucid Motors, formerly known as Atieva. In China, LeEco has introduced its LeSee electric sedan, which is designed to compete with the Tesla Model S.
But the various car companies have faced significant headwinds of late. Work on the Faraday Future factory in North Las Vegas was halted last fall after money owed to the primary contractor went unpaid for several months. Dan Schwarz, the treasurer of the state of Nevada, made a trip to China to investigate Jia’s finances and told the press upon his return that the company didn’t have any money.
Since then, Faraday Future’s plans for a 3-million-square-foot factory have been scaled back to a 650,000 square foot facility which the company says will be completed this fall. The company still claims that production will start “sometime in 2018.”
Shortly after his appearance in California, Jia publicly confessed in a letter to shareholders that the finances of his companies were out of control. The letter said, “No company has had such an experience, a simultaneous time in ice and fire,” he said. “We blindly sped ahead, and our cash demand ballooned. We got over-extended in our global strategy. At the same time, our capital and resources were in fact limited,”
In January, Jia secured an additional $2.2 billion from property developer Sunac China Holdings. But that money is not to be used for Jia’s car making endeavors and is intended instead to keep his core entertainment business units alive and functioning says Reuters.
The number of LeEco employees in the US has been slashed from 1,000 a year ago to about 500 or fewer today. LeEco declined to confirm how many people are still on the payroll.
The sale of the parcel of land in Silicon Valley will help put some cash back into the company as it looks to ride out the cash crunch. Whether any or all of its electric car manufacturing plans will ever come to fruition is unknown. Shares of Jia’s core business, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing, have declined in value by 25% since the first of the year.
Elon Musk
Tesla AI5 chip nears completion, Elon Musk teases 9-month development cadence
The Tesla CEO shared his recent insights in a post on social media platform X.
Tesla’s next-generation AI5 chip is nearly complete, and work on its successor is already underway, as per a recent update from Elon Musk.
The Tesla CEO shared his recent insights in a post on social media platform X.
Musk details AI chip roadmap
In his post, Elon Musk stated that Tesla’s AI5 chip design is “almost done,” while AI6 has already entered early development. Musk added that Tesla plans to continue iterating rapidly, with AI7, AI8, AI9, and future generations targeting a nine-month design cycle.
He also noted that Tesla’s in-house chips could become the highest-volume AI processors in the world. Musk framed his update as a recruiting message, encouraging engineers to join Tesla’s AI and chip development teams.
Tesla community member Herbert Ong highlighted the strategic importance of the timeline, noting that faster chip cycles enable quicker learning, faster iteration, and a compounding advantage in AI and autonomy that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to close.
AI5 manufacturing takes shape
Musk’s comments align with earlier reporting on AI5’s production plans. In December, it was reported that Samsung is preparing to manufacture Tesla’s AI5 chip, accelerating hiring for experienced engineers to support U.S. production and address complex foundry challenges.
Samsung is one of two suppliers selected for AI5, alongside TSMC. The companies are expected to produce different versions of the AI5 chip, with TSMC reportedly using a 3nm process and Samsung using a 2nm process.
Musk has previously stated that while different foundries translate chip designs into physical silicon in different ways, the goal is for both versions of the Tesla AI5 chip to operate identically. AI5 will succeed Tesla’s current AI4 hardware, formerly known as Hardware 4, and is expected to support the company’s Full Self-Driving system as well as other AI-driven efforts, including Optimus.
News
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.
This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
News
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.
Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.
Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.
Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error.
More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.
Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.
Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.
“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted.
Tesla AI5 chip nears completion, Elon Musk teases 9-month development cadence
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
