$Tesla(TSLA.US)Tesla is massively expanding its AI chip design team: This is a continuation of Tesla's efforts since November 2025 (Elon Musk personally promoted recruitment on X), with Musk stating he is deeply involved in AI5 chip manufacturing, holding design meetings twice a week. This hiring wave targets late-stage optimization for AI5 and AI6 design, aiming to build full-stack capabilities: from computing cores, memory, interconnects to network integration, similar to NVIDIA but more specialized for Tesla's real-time AI needs (low power, low latency), further strengthening Tesla's moat.

1. Vertical integration moat: In-house chips can significantly reduce costs (inference chips are the most expensive part) and improve efficiency (better performance/watt), supporting unsupervised FSD, Robotaxi deployment, and Optimus mass production.

2. Multi-business synergy: Chips can be used in vehicles, robots (potential 100M+ units), and data centers (overflow to xAI).

3. Reduced external dependency: Long-term reduction in external procurement costs, supporting higher margins and faster iteration (AI6/AI7 annual updates).