Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk announced on Saturday that the EV maker has nearly completed the design work for its AI5 self-driving computer chip, and its AI6 chip is already in the early stages of development as the company eyes a nine-month design cycle for its next-generation chips.
“Our AI5 chip design is almost done, and AI6 is in early stages, but there will be AI7, AI8, AI9 … aiming for a 9-month design cycle,” Musk said in an X post.
In November, Musk stated that AI5 chips, manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), are slated to enter high-volume production in 2027, aiming to replace the current AI4 chips in Tesla (TSLA) vehicles.
In July, the automaker signed a $16.5B deal with Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) to manufacture A16 chips in the U.S. Musk’s latest remarks suggest that Tesla (TSLA) is on track to achieve its key milestones in building custom chips to lessen the reliance on Nvidia (NVDA), the leader in the AI chip market.
“Join us to work on what I predict will be the highest volume AI chips in the world by far!” he added in a potential recruitment pitch.