Musk Bets Big on GPUs for AI
Elon Musk has made it clear: his companies Tesla and xAI will continue to buy thousands of GPUs from chip giants Nvidia and AMD. Why? Because his ambitious artificial intelligence plans—including humanoid robots and giant language models—need the computing power only these chips can deliver.
“We expect to still buy a lot of GPUs from Nvidia, some from AMD, and maybe from others,” Musk told CNBC in a recent interview. “So long as Nvidia is better than what we make, we’ll keep buying from Nvidia.”
Building a Supercomputer in Memphis
One of Musk’s boldest projects is xAI’s Grok language model, a challenger to ChatGPT. To train Grok, xAI is planning a massive supercomputer center outside Memphis, Tennessee. Musk revealed that this site will eventually host up to 1 million GPUs, on top of the 200,000 already in place or on the way.
That kind of scale is nearly unprecedented and shows how serious Musk is about building world-class AI systems—systems that can match or exceed current industry leaders.
Tesla’s Robot Army Also Needs GPUs
Tesla isn’t being left out of the AI revolution. The electric car company is also heavily invested in developing Optimus, its humanoid robot. Musk said training these robots will require huge computing resources—and that means more GPUs.
It’s clear the same chips used to power advanced AI chatbots will also help build the brains of Tesla’s robots.
Why Not Just Build His Own Chips?
Given Musk’s history of building things from scratch—like SpaceX rockets or Tesla batteries—why doesn’t he just make his own AI chips? Musk addressed this, saying he’ll keep buying from Nvidia and others as long as they remain better than what his companies could make in-house.
That’s a practical choice. Designing and manufacturing cutting-edge GPUs is incredibly difficult, expensive, and time-consuming—even for a tech visionary.
Market Reactions Stay Steady
Following Musk’s announcement, shares of Nvidia, AMD, and Tesla saw little movement in after-hours trading. However, all three stocks had been rising recently thanks to excitement around AI-related partnerships, especially after President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East.
Musk Sticks with Tesla
In the same interview, Musk also confirmed he has no plans to step away from Tesla. “I will remain as CEO of Tesla for at least the next five years,” he said at the Qatar Economic Forum.
This statement brings some reassurance to Tesla investors and fans who wondered whether Musk’s attention was shifting too much toward AI or space ventures.
A Future Fueled by Chips
Whether it’s smart robots walking around your house or AI models powering your devices, Elon Musk’s vision for the future runs on GPUs. And for now, that means continuing to buy from the best—Nvidia and AMD.
His message is simple: if you want to lead in AI, you need the right hardware. And Musk is making sure his companies have plenty of it.
