According to Sawyer Merritt, Tesla China's Vice President Grace Tao clarified that Tesla does not exclude China-based suppliers from its global supply chain, refuting recent WSJ reports. Tao emphasized that Tesla applies consistent, objective standards for supplier selection across all regions, including the US, China, and Europe. Notably, Tesla's Shanghai factory has leveraged AI-driven supply chain management to achieve the lowest global prices for Model 3 and Model Y, relying on more than 400 domestic suppliers, with over 60 also supplying Tesla's global operations. This highlights the growing role of AI in optimizing automotive supply chains, reducing costs, and creating new business opportunities for AI-driven logistics and supplier management solutions in the electric vehicle industry (Source: Sawyer Merritt, Twitter, Nov 26, 2025).