Tesla says it is nearing completion of its next-generation AI chip, AI5, and has already begun work on its successor, AI6, as CEO Elon Musk reiterated the goal of rolling out a new chip design into mass production every year.

The company confirmed that Samsung and TSMC will both fabricate the chips, a dual-sourcing strategy aimed at ensuring the massive supply Musk says will be needed for Tesla’s vehicles and data-centre operations.

Musk announced the updates on X, underscoring Tesla’s push for rapid custom chip development as automakers and cloud companies compete for
Artificial Intelligence computing capacity.

He said AI5 is “close to taping out,” AI6 design work has started, and Tesla expects chip output to eventually surpass “all other AI chips combined.”

Samsung earlier this year secured a $16.5 billion contract to manufacture AI chips for Tesla, and Musk has now confirmed that TSMC’s Arizona facility will also produce variants of the same designs.

Tesla plans for the chips to power a wide range of applications, including advanced driver assistance and full self-driving in its vehicles, compute for its humanoid robots, and cloud or data-centre workloads.