Tesla AI5 Chip Completes Tape-Out: 40x Performance Leap, Dual Sourcing with TSMC and Samsung

April 15 – Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on social platform that the company's next-generation AI5 autonomous driving chip has successfully completed tape-out. Musk expressed gratitude to partners including TSMC and Samsung, and stated that the AI5 "will become one of the highest-volume AI chips in the world." He also revealed that multiple chips, including the AI6 and Dojo 3, are in parallel development.

In terms of performance, the AI5 delivers a quantum leap over the previous-generation AI4 chip: 40x improvement in comprehensive performance, 8x increase in raw compute power, and 9x increase in memory capacity. A single AI5 chip offers up to 2,500 TOPS of AI compute and 144GB of memory, and is deeply optimized for Transformer engines. Musk previously noted that a single AI5 chip is comparable to NVIDIA's Hopper-class performance, while a dual-chip configuration approaches the Blackwell level, but with significantly lower cost and power consumption.

The foundry strategy for the AI5 has drawn widespread attention. According to industry sources, Tesla is adopting a "dual-sourcing" model: TSMC plans to use a 3nm process, while Samsung plans to trial-produce the chip on a 2nm process. Dual sourcing helps diversify supply chain risk and improve bargaining power. However, given considerations of advanced process yield and stability, TSMC is still expected to secure the majority of high-end orders. In terms of capacity allocation, the AI5 is planned for production in the United States, with Samsung's Taylor, Texas fab and TSMC's Arizona fab responsible for manufacturing. The chip will be used primarily in Tesla's HW5.0 autonomous driving system and the Dojo supercomputing system, further enhancing AI computing power and vehicle intelligence.

In addition, the next-generation AI6 chip and the Dojo 3 processor remain on track. The AI6 will be manufactured at Samsung's U.S. fab using a 2nm process and will feature LPDDR6 memory. The AI6.5 chip will be produced at TSMC's Arizona subsidiary, also on a 2nm process. Musk previously indicated that the AI6 could tape out around December 2026.