Tesla Increases AI5 Chip Memory Spec from 72GB to 96GB LPDDR5
Elon Musk announced that Tesla is adjusting the memory capacity of its upcoming proprietary AI5 chip upward from 72GB to 96GB of LPDDR5 RAM. This follows a previous decision to cut memory specs to navigate global memory supply constraints. The AI5 chip is central to Tesla's next-generation autonomous driving software and Optimus humanoid robotics platform. Upgrading the memory budget helps prevent hardware bottlenecks when executing complex neural network models directly on edge devices. Musk stated that a single AI5 chip (taped out in April) aims to match NVIDIA Hopper GPU performance, while a dual-chip configuration targets Blackwell performance at three times the energy efficiency and 10% of the hardware cost. Tesla also plans for its next-generation AI6 chip to feature 144GB of LPDDR6 RAM.
## BACKGROUND
Tesla designs custom processors to run AI inference models directly inside its electric vehicles and robots rather than relying solely on third-party silicon. On-device edge AI requires high memory bandwidth and capacity while keeping power consumption low, making specialized low-power DRAM like LPDDR5 essential.