Elon Musk reveals Tesla's AI roadmap; says ‘we expect to build chips at higher volumes than all other...’

elon musk

Elon Musk has outlined Tesla’s AI hardware roadmap in a new post on X, saying the company aims to scale its in-house silicon to levels that exceed the combined output of all other AI chip makers. The post highlights Tesla’s multi-year investment in custom chip design and its plan to rapidly iterate on hardware powering its autonomous driving systems and future robotics.

Musk’s claim on AI chip volume
In the post, Musk said Tesla has already built and deployed several million AI chips across its cars and data centres. The latest production version is AI4, with AI5 close to taping out and early work underway on AI6. Musk wrote: “We expect to build chips at higher volumes ultimately than all other AI chips combined. Read that sentence again, as I’m not kidding.”
He added that these chips support Tesla’s real-world AI capabilities and will play a role in technologies such as safer driving and medical assistance through the Optimus humanoid robot.

One-year upgrade cycle
Musk said Tesla’s goal is to launch a new AI chip design every 12 months — a cadence faster than traditional semiconductor development cycles, which typically run 18 to 24 months. He also said he meets the chip engineering team every Tuesday and Saturday and expects weekend sessions to wind down once AI5 is completed. According to Musk, this aggressive iteration cycle reflects Tesla’s approach to vertical integration, where the company controls the full stack from hardware to training to deployment.

Hiring push for AI chip roles
Alongside the roadmap, Musk issued a call for engineers to join Tesla’s AI chip division. He asked interested candidates to send three bullet points demonstrating “exceptional ability” to the company’s dedicated chip-hiring email. Musk said Tesla is particularly focused on applying advanced AI techniques to chip design, positioning it as a key competitive advantage in the years ahead.