Overview
- Tesla shares closed up 7.6% to $392.04 after Wednesday's post from Elon Musk said the AI5 design had taped out, which is the final step before a foundry begins fabrication.
- Musk said a single AI5 would deliver about five times the useful compute of Tesla’s current dual AI4 setup and claimed rough parity with Nvidia’s H100 for Tesla-specific workloads.
- Tesla outlined a multi‑year schedule with first silicon targeted for late 2026 and high‑volume production planned for mid‑2027, with an AI6 tapeout goal in December 2026.
- Analysts split on the news as UBS raised its rating to Hold, while Barclays kept Equalweight with a $360 target and warned that a proposed Terafab buildout could require vast new capital.
- Investors now look to the April 22 earnings call for details on capital spending, production partners such as Samsung and TSMC, and how AI5 fits into plans for Full Self‑Driving and the Optimus robot.