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According to media reports, GM recently acquired Tooling & Equipment International (TEI), a key supplier to Tesla. On July 1, TEI officially became part of GM's global manufacturing division, which is responsible for all GM's cars and parts manufacturing operations, according to people familiar with the matter. It was also reported that the acquisition was worth less than $100m, and one person familiar with the matter even estimated that GM spent as much as $80 million.

In response to the news, GM confirmed that it had acquired TEI and said the acquisition was aimed at strengthening its innovative product portfolio and ensuring access to unique foundry technology. However, TEI will remain a separate business entity, with General Motors as its parent. In addition, GM said in a statement: "the introduction of TEI into GM is the company's decades-long casting experience and provides a competitive advantage of strategic castings for future small batch products such as Cadillac Celestiq."

It is understood that TEI is an American foundry company, which mainly uses 3D printing sand technology to produce low-pressure aluminum prototype castings, and is considered to be one of the top sand casting companies in the industry. Tesla's success in the field of integrated die casting (Gigacasting) is due to its great contribution. Tesla has maintained a cooperative relationship with TEI since 2017 and is an important supplier to Tesla in the field of integrated foundry. For many years, he has been helping Tesla promote integrated die casting (Gigacasting) technology. The cooperation involves the design of large foundry mold prototypes for a number of models, including Model Y, Model 3, Cybertruck pickup trucks and Semi trucks.

It is the use of this technology that enables Tesla to save a lot of time and cost by realizing the integration of car body parts. With the advantages of this technology, Tesla can now develop a car in 18 to 24 months and save a lot of costs, which may now take three to four years for most competitors to do so, according to people familiar with the matter. But just as Tesla was planning to launch a $25000 electric car, TEI suddenly "ran away" and chose to cooperate with GM.

It is worth mentioning that General Motors cooperated with TEI as early as 2021, when TEI mass produced large-size, lightweight structural components for Cadillac limited edition luxury Celestiq EV cars, and its Celestiq rear longitudinal body soleplate castings were greatly reduced in size and weight, and were awarded the American Foundry Association casting of the year.

According to the latest report, sources say GM has signed a guaranteed long-term contract with TEI, and TEI has invested in a new Celestiq production line at its base in Livonia, Michigan, just a 25-minute drive from GM's headquarters in Detroit.

GM's acquisition of TEI will give it a greater advantage in foundry technology, a move seen by the industry as an opportunity to catch up with Tesla. In fact, a number of auto giants in the industry have caught up with Tesla in integrated die casting, including Ford, Hyundai and Toyota.

With the acquisition of TEI by General Motors, Tesla, who has lost a key supplier to TEI, needs to rely more on other foundry companies. Foreign media reported that Tesla is working hard to find new sand casting partners to fill the gap in TEI, and is starting to rely more on three other foundry companies it uses in the UK, Germany and Japan to develop giant die-casting models for the production of millions of low-cost electric cars planned for the next decade. These low-cost electric cars are previously widely watched $25000 low-cost models. Recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also confirmed that the car will be made in Germany.

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