Elon Musk says Tesla plans to manufacture AI chips at volumes exceeding the entire industry’s output as the company ramps up its recruitment of elite semiconductor and artificial intelligence engineers.
The announcement underscores Musk’s ambition to make in-house hardware a core pillar of Tesla’s future in autonomous driving, robotics, and real-world AI.
Musk said on X over the weekend that Tesla has maintained an advanced internal chip and board engineering team “for many years” and has already designed and deployed several million AI chips across its vehicles and data-center infrastructure. These chips form the backbone of Tesla’s full self-driving systems and machine-learning capabilities.
Tesla is currently shipping its fourth-generation chip, AI4, while finalizing AI5 and beginning early development of AI6. Musk said the company’s long-term goal is to bring a new chip design to mass production every 12 months, adding that Tesla expects eventually “to build chips at higher volumes… than all other AI chips combined.”
Alongside the announcement, Musk initiated a major global hiring campaign. Tesla is seeking candidates with ‘exceptional ability’ in AI and semiconductor engineering, asking applicants to send proof of their capabilities to a dedicated recruitment email.
He said Tesla is focused on applying advanced AI to chip design and that upcoming generations of the hardware will enable safer autonomous driving and support new products, including the Optimus humanoid robot.
The ambitious plans come despite delays to Tesla’s next major chip, AI5. Musk said earlier this month that meaningful volumes of AI5 will not be available until mid-2027, a timeline he has described as too slow.
He has urged fabrication partners Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics to accelerate production. In October, he confirmed that Samsung would join TSMC in producing AI5 to increase capacity and reduce supply-chain risk.
The delay means Tesla’s transition to its next-generation hardware will take longer than expected, although Musk said the company expects to have AI6 samples and possibly small quantities ready in 2026, with full production starting in 2027.
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