Tesla AI5 and AI6 chips get major RAM cuts to unlock Optimus production
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 1, 2026.
Halving AI5 memory to 72GB is a bet that scarce LPDDR supply is the gate on Optimus volume rather than silicon design, and Musk says the performance cost is negligible.
@DirtyTesLa We cut our RAM in half for the Tesla AI5 chip (now 72GB of LP5) and 1/3 for AI6 (now 144GB of LP6). This was the only way to get enough volume for Optimus production and greatly reduces cost. As it turns out, we think this will have a negligible effect on Optimus performance,
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Elon Musk confirmed on October 1 that Tesla deliberately halved the memory in its AI5 chip, landing at 72GB of LPDDR5, and cut AI6 memory by a third. A supply constraint drove the decision: getting enough memory volume to scale Optimus robot production at all.
Musk stated that reducing memory was the only path to sufficient production volume and that it also meaningfully lowers cost. For investors tracking the Optimus ramp, that framing matters because it signals Tesla is prioritizing throughput over raw hardware specs in this generation.
Musk addressed whether the cuts degrade performance directly, calling the expected effect on Optimus negligible. Tesla is staking its humanoid robot timeline on that claim holding up in practice.
Whether the memory reduction unlocks the production volumes Tesla needs, and whether real-world Optimus performance data backs up the negligible-impact assertion, is what matters from here. The AI5 spec is the clearest measure of how tight LP5 supply remains for the industry.
Mentioned: TSLA