Tesla Cuts Chip Memory for Optimus Robot Mass Production

Tesla is cutting back on the memory capacity of its AI5 and AI6 chips to ensure adequate memory resources for the mass production of its Optimus humanoid robot. CEO Elon Musk announced on social media that the changes are necessary to facilitate the large-scale manufacturing of the robot.

The AI5 chip's RAM will be reduced from a planned 144GB to 72GB of LP5 memory, a 50 percent decrease. The AI6 chip will see its RAM reduced from 216GB to 144GB of LP6 memory, approximately a 33 percent reduction.

This move comes amid predictions from memory manufacturer Micron Technology that humanoid robots could become a significant new driver of memory demand. Estimates suggest each robot might require over 200GB of DRAM and multiple terabytes of NAND flash memory, potentially straining global annual DRAM production of around 45 billion GB.

Musk stated that memory bandwidth is a more likely performance bottleneck than total capacity. He indicated that with the bandwidth remaining unchanged, the impact on Optimus's performance is expected to be "negligible." The specific technical details of these adjustments were shared by users on X, a platform Musk actively engages with.