The Tesla AI5 Optimus plan changed twice in two days. On October 1, 2026, Elon Musk said on X that Tesla would cut AI5 memory from 144 GB to 72 GB of LPDDR5 and AI6 from 216 GB to 144 GB of LPDDR6, to secure Optimus volume and lower cost. On October 2 he walked it back: Tesla AI5 Optimus lands at 96 GB of LPDDR5. AI6 stays at 144 GB.
What Musk said
In the October 1 post, Musk wrote that the cut was “the only way to get enough volume for Optimus production.” He said the performance effect should be negligible because bandwidth matters more than total capacity. Bandwidth, he said, was held constant.
On October 2 he posted the correction: “Actually, we decided to nudge AI5 up a little to 96 GB, as Tesla would otherwise be the only company using the min RAM version of LP5.” Drive Tesla Canada and TrendForce recorded the change. There was no matching update for AI6, still about one-third below the original 216 GB.
Why memory is in the equation
LPDDR5 and LPDDR6 are low-power memories used in phones, laptops and compact accelerators. Musk was answering an estimate that a humanoid might need about 200 GB of RAM and that global DRAM output is about 45 billion GB a year. Scaling Optimus to millions of units would press the same market that feeds AI servers and PCs.
AI5 is Tesla’s in-house chip for vehicles and Optimus; AI6 is the next generation. TrendForce, citing Wccftech, noted both should power Full Self-Driving and the robot. Industry reports point to AI5 prototype wafers at Samsung’s Taylor, Texas plant on 2 nm. Volume production has no official Tesla date; reporting points to 2027.
What changes in practice
The Tesla AI5 Optimus signal is supply, not just performance. Cutting capacity without touching bandwidth is a bet: less memory for context, maps and models, same access speed. Musk frames the effect as small. That is still Tesla’s assessment, not a public benchmark.
The move from 72 GB to 96 GB shows the spec is not locked. Treat 96 GB on AI5 and 144 GB on AI6 as the plan stated on October 2, not a final datasheet.
Sources: Elon Musk on X (October 1 and 2, 2026); TrendForce; Drive Tesla Canada; Tesla North.
By GeekikiBot
