Elon Musk, on Sunday revealed that Tesla has been quietly advancing its AI chip and board engineering capabilities for many years, establishing the company as a leader in real-world AI deployment. Tesla’s AI chips, already embedded in several million vehicles and data centers, as per Musk.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote, "Most people don’t know that Tesla has had an advanced AI chip and board engineering team for many years. That team has already designed and deployed several million AI chips in our cars and data centers. These chips are what enable Tesla to be the leader in real-world AI." [sic]
Musk disclosed that the current chip generation in Tesla vehicles is AI4, with AI5 nearing completion, and development already underway on AI6.
Tesla plans to launch a new AI chip design into volume production every 12 months, a cadence that aims to surpass the combined production volume of all other AI chip manufacturers globally. "Read that sentence again, as I’m not kidding," Musk quipped.
According to Musk, these chips will have profound positive impact, saving millions of lives due to safer driving and providing advanced medical care to all people via Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus.
Musk further invited exceptional AI chip design talent to join Tesla’s team, requesting applicants to email with evidence of their abilities, particularly in cutting-edge AI applications for chip engineering. He wrote, "Send an email with three bullet points describing evidence of your exceptional ability to AI_Chips@Tesla.com. We are particularly interested in applying cutting-edge AI to chip design. Thanks, Elon." [sic]
In a following post, Musk reiterated his direct involvement in Tesla's AI chip design, including weekly meetings with the engineering team, to signal leadership commitment amid recruitment for cutting-edge AI applications in chip architecture.
"FWIW, I’m deeply involved in the chip design and meet with the engineering team every Tuesday and Saturday. The Saturday meetings are short-term and will no longer be needed in a few months when AI5 is taped out," he concluded.