How Tesla Is Becoming an AI Hardware Company
Move over, NVIDIA—Tesla’s coming for the AI hardware crown.
Tesla’s AI Chip Revolution: From Carmaker to AI Hardware Titan
Tesla’s no longer just an electric vehicle company—it’s morphing into an AI hardware juggernaut, rivaling the likes of NVIDIA. With its AI4, AI5, and AI6 chips, Tesla’s building the silicon backbone for a future of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots.
Here’s the lowdown:
AI Chips Powering Tesla’s Autonomous Ambition
AI4: Built by Samsung, these chips drive Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) stack, balancing performance and efficiency for today’s autonomous vehicles.
AI5: Designed by Tesla, manufactured by TSMC, it’s a leap forward in compute power. Design’s done, production’s kicking off in Taiwan, then shifting to Arizona.
AI6: The long-term play. Samsung’s building a new Texas fab near Giga Texas to churn these out, with Elon Musk personally optimizing the line.
The $16.5B Samsung Deal (and Counting)
Tesla inked a massive ₩22.8 trillion (~$16.5B) chip deal with Samsung through 2033, with Musk hinting it could balloon past $30B.
Why? Tesla’s betting big on saturating the U.S. with CyberCab RoboTaxis and scaling Optimus, its humanoid robot, to 1M units annually in five years. The Texas fab’s proximity to Giga Texas means chips can hit production lines at lightning speed.
Strategic Edge
Tesla’s playing TSMC and Samsung against each other, securing better pricing and innovation. With Samsung struggling to fill foundry capacity, Tesla negotiated hard, gaining active control over fab optimization. This isn’t just a supply deal—it’s a power move.
Wall Street’s Take
Morgan Stanley calls Tesla their top pick, not for EVs, but for its pivot to shared autonomous transport and AI. Tesla’s crossing the chasm from carmaker to AI platform, with chips tailored for FSD, Dojo training, and Optimus.
Why It’s a Big Deal
Tesla’s not just building cars—it’s crafting an AI stack to dominate autonomy. By designing its own chips and co-developing fabs, Tesla’s joining the elite ranks of Apple, Google, and NVIDIA. With Elon pushing for 25–30% voting control to safeguard this vision, Tesla’s all-in on a multi-decade AI infrastructure bet.
Rem NVDA is 4.3x the Market Cap of Tesla - but the path to exponential revenues is clear for Tesla with Autonomy and Optimus, nevermind Dojo, Energy Storage and so on.
Bottom Line: Tesla’s AI6 fab and Samsung deal scream confidence in a future where autonomous systems—vehicles and robots—rule. Move over, NVIDIA—Tesla’s coming for the AI hardware crown.