Tesla AI5 Chip Nears Production as Company Plans Two New Terafab Facilities in Austin

Tesla's AI5 chip is nearing production, with the company planning two new Terafab manufacturing facilities in Austin, Texas, dedicated to chips for vehicles and robots, according to Tech Startups.

The facilities are part of Tesla's push to build its own silicon infrastructure for its growing fleet of autonomous vehicles and Optimus humanoid robots. Tesla is also developing orbital data centers in partnership with SpaceX and Intel, according to the report.

Tesla is currently conducting limited Robotaxi testing in Austin. The company has shifted production focus toward its Optimus robot line, which CEO Elon Musk has described as a long-term revenue driver that could eventually surpass the car business.

The AI5 chip is designed to handle the complex inference workloads required for full self-driving software. Tesla has been developing its own chips since 2019, when it launched the Hardware 3 platform, and has since moved to the Dojo supercomputer for training its neural networks.

The Terafab facilities will give Tesla direct control over chip production, reducing its dependence on third-party manufacturers. The company has previously relied on Samsung and TSMC for chip fabrication.

British startup Wayve also secured $60 million from Qualcomm, AMD, and Arm this month to advance its mapless AI approach to self-driving technology. Wayve's system learns driving behavior directly from data rather than relying on pre-built maps, which the company says makes it more adaptable to new environments.

Uber committed $10 billion to robotaxis this month as competition in the autonomous mobility space intensifies.