Tesla Inc. is quietly assembling what could become the world’s largest AI chip manufacturer, a move that underscores Chief Executive Elon Musk’s ambition to dominate not just electric vehicles and robotics but the very silicon powering artificial intelligence. In a series of posts on X, Mr. Musk revealed that Tesla’s in-house team has already deployed millions of AI chips—currently the AI4 generation—in its cars and data centers, positioning the company as a leader in real-world AI applications. The executive, who meets with engineers every Tuesday and Saturday, announced that the team is nearing tape-out for the next-generation AI5 chip while kicking off work on AI6, with plans for annual volume production cycles.

“Most people don’t know that Tesla has had an advanced AI chip and board engineering team for many years,” Mr. Musk wrote on X on Nov. 23. “That team has already designed and deployed several million AI chips in our cars and data centers.” This revelation challenges the narrative that Tesla relies heavily on external suppliers like Nvidia Corp., highlighting years of stealthy investment in custom silicon for full self-driving and Optimus humanoid robots.

“The current version in cars is AI4, we are close to taping out AI5 and are starting work on AI6,” Mr. Musk added. He boldly claimed Tesla aims to produce chips at volumes exceeding all other AI chips combined—a statement he emphasized with, “Read that sentence again, as I’m not kidding.”

Tesla’s Hidden Silicon Legacy

Tesla’s chip journey began over a decade ago, evolving from dependencies on third-party hardware to bespoke designs optimized for neural networks. The company’s Dojo supercomputer and Full Self-Driving hardware rely on these custom AI inference accelerators, which Mr. Musk credits for safer driving and future medical advancements via Optimus. In a recent X post, he noted, “These chips will profoundly change the world in positive ways, saving millions of lives due to safer driving and providing advanced medical care to all people via Optimus.”

The AI4 chips, already in millions of vehicles, represent a mature deployment at scale. According to posts on X from Tesla’s official account, designing chips in-house “unlocks absolute efficiency that no off-the-shelf part can match.” Mr. Musk has personally overseen progress, stating on X, “Just wrapped up the AI5 Saturday chip design review a few hours ago. We’re starting to do some work on AI6 too.”

Rapid Cadence of Innovation

Tesla’s goal of annual chip releases marks a departure from the industry’s typical multi-year cycles. Mr. Musk disclosed on X that AI5 samples may appear in 2026, with high-volume production targeted for 2027, potentially 50 times more performant than AI4. “AI5 has potential to be 50x more performant than AI4 (our current hardware) – working toward mass production in 2027,” Tesla posted on X, noting applications in vehicles, robotics, training, and data centers.

Manufacturing partnerships amplify this ambition. TSMC will produce AI5 initially in Taiwan and Arizona, while Samsung’s new Texas fab is earmarked for AI6. “Samsung’s giant new Texas fab will be dedicated to making Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip,” Mr. Musk posted on X in July. Recent updates confirm AI5 is nearing tape-out, with Mr. Musk involved deeply: “FWIW, I’m deeply involved in the chip design and meet with the engineering team every Tuesday and Saturday.”

Global Manufacturing Muscle

Recent news reports echo Mr. Musk’s disclosures. The Times of India reported Tesla expanding its AI chip team for autonomous driving and robots. The Hindu BusinessLine noted Tesla is close to finalizing AI5 and beginning AI6 development.

Electrek highlighted Mr. Musk hyping an eighth-generation chip while AI5 advances, and Tesla Oracle quoted him calling AI5 “epic” and AI6 potentially the best AI chip by far. Not a Tesla App detailed two AI5 variants for late 2026 production.

Recruiting the Elite

To fuel this expansion, Mr. Musk issued a direct call: “Send an email with three bullet points describing evidence of your exceptional ability to AI_Chips@Tesla.com.” He emphasized applying cutting-edge AI to chip design, signaling Tesla’s intent to automate its own silicon engineering. This comes amid posts on X where Mr. Musk reviewed designs with teams in California and Texas, including inviting Michael Dell to an AI5 session.

The volume ambitions are staggering. Tesla expects to outproduce the entire AI chip market, leveraging car and robot scale—potentially billions of units annually. As Mr. Musk put it on X, “Just had a great design review today with the Tesla AI5 chip design team! This is going to be an epic chip.”

Implications for AI Dominance

For industry insiders, Tesla’s trajectory poses existential questions for Nvidia and others. With AI4 enabling vision-only autonomy—as Tesla posted on X, “It’s doing that with cameras + AI only btw”—successive generations could cement Tesla’s edge in edge AI inference. Mr. Musk’s roadmap extends to AI7 and AI8, promising unprecedented performance.

Challenges remain, including tape-out risks and supply-chain dependencies, but Tesla’s track record with millions of deployed chips lends credibility. As PhotoNews reported, Mr. Musk unveiled the AI4-to-AI6 roadmap, with chips already in millions of cars. This positions Tesla not as a chip user, but as the volume kingmaker in AI hardware.