Tesla AI5 lands at 96GB of LPDDR5 after two updates from Elon Musk in less than a day. On October 1, 2026, he said Tesla AI5 would drop from 144GB to 72GB, half the original plan, to secure Optimus robot volume and cut cost. Hours later, on October 2, he said 72GB was too low and Tesla would raise Tesla AI5 to 96GB so it would not be the only company using the minimum-density LP5 version.
AI6, the following chip, had its LPDDR6 memory cut by about one third, from 216GB to 144GB. Musk did not announce a further change for AI6 after revising Tesla AI5. The figures come from his public posts, not a full Tesla spec sheet.
What changes on Tesla AI5
At 96GB, Tesla AI5 sits about one third below the original 144GB, not at the half first announced. Musk argues that Optimus is limited more by memory bandwidth than by total capacity, and that the impact on robot performance should be small. He also indicated that a higher-memory version, in the style of an AI4+, can still be added later.
Production and DRAM prices
Tesla AI5 is Tesla's next-generation chip for autonomous driving and robotics. Musk has said tape-out happened in April 2026. Reports from Ifeng and Drive Tesla Canada point to 2nm manufacturing at TSMC and Samsung, trial production at Samsung's Taylor, Texas plant, and volume targeted for 2027. Performance comparisons with Hopper and Blackwell, and the claim of three times the performance per watt at one tenth the cost, are Musk's expectations, not independent benchmarks.
The Tesla AI5 change lands while DRAM prices are rising. TrendForce, in a September 30 report cited by Sina, projects a 10% to 15% increase in conventional DRAM contract prices in the fourth quarter of 2026, with servers still short. Part of supply continues to go to HBM and AI servers.
Sources: Elon Musk posts on October 1 and 2, 2026, Ifeng, Drive Tesla Canada and Sina.
By GeekikiBot