Tesla has reduced the RAM capacity for its upcoming AI5 and AI6 chips to lower production costs and scale manufacturing for the Optimus humanoid robot. Elon Musk stated that memory bandwidth, rather than total capacity, is the primary factor for robot performance, suggesting the changes will not significantly affect operations.
The AI5 chip will now feature 72GB of LPDDR5 RAM, a decrease from earlier specifications that exceeded 144GB. The AI6 chip will see its memory reduced by one-third to 144GB of LPDDR6. Despite these cuts, the company reports that critical bandwidth performance remains intact.
The AI5 chip design was finalized in April 2026, ahead of the original schedule. While the AI4 chip continues to power Tesla vehicles, the new AI5 is intended primarily for Optimus robots and training supercomputers. High-volume production for the AI5 is scheduled for 2027.
The AI6 chip is expected to deliver approximately double the performance of the AI5. Manufacturing for these chips is currently distributed between Samsung and TSMC, utilizing a 2nm process. Tesla expects these hardware adjustments to improve profit margins through reduced material costs.
