Elon Musk says Tesla’s restarted Dojo3 will be for ‘space-based AI compute’

Elon Musk said implicit the agelong play that Tesla aims to restart enactment connected Dojo3, the electrical conveyance company’s previously abandoned third-generation AI chip. Only this time, Dojo3 won’t beryllium aimed astatine grooming self-driving models connected Earth. Instead, Musk says it volition beryllium dedicated to “space-based AI compute.”

The determination comes 5 months aft Tesla efficaciously unopen down its Dojo effort. The institution disbanded the squad down its Dojo supercomputer pursuing the departure of Dojo pb Peter Bannon. Around 20 Dojo workers besides left to articulation DensityAI, a caller AI infrastructure startup founded by erstwhile Dojo caput Ganesh Venkataramanan and ex-Tesla employees Bill Chang and Ben Floering.

At the clip of Dojo’s shutdown, Bloomberg reported Tesla planned to summation its reliance connected Nvidia and different partners similar AMD for compute and Samsung for spot manufacturing, alternatively than proceed processing its ain customized silicon. Musk’s latest comments suggest the strategy has shifted again.

The billionaire enforcement and Republican megadonor said successful a post connected X the determination to revive Dojo was based connected the authorities of its in-house spot roadmap, noting that Tesla’s AI5 spot plan was “in bully shape.”

Tesla’s AI5 chip, made by TSMC, was designed to powerfulness the automaker’s automated driving features and Optimus humanoid robots. Last summer, Tesla signed a $16.5 cardinal woody with Samsung to physique its AI6 chips that committedness to powerfulness Tesla vehicles and Optimus, arsenic good arsenic alteration high-performance AI grooming successful information centers. 

“AI7/Dojo3 volition beryllium for space-based AI compute,” Musk said connected Sunday, positioning the resurrected task arsenic much of a moonshot. 

To execute that, Tesla is present gearing up to rebuild the squad it dismantled months ago. Musk utilized the aforesaid station to enlistee engineers directly, writing:  “If you’re funny successful moving connected what volition beryllium the highest measurement chips successful the world, nonstop a enactment to AI_Chips@Tesla.com with 3 slug points connected the toughest method problems you’ve solved.”

The timing of the announcement is notable. At CES 2026, Nvidia unveiled Alpamayo, an open-source AI exemplary for autonomous driving that straight challenges Tesla’s FSD software. Musk commented connected X that solving the agelong process of uncommon borderline cases successful driving is “super hard,” adding: “I honestly anticipation they succeed.” 

Musk and respective different AI executives person argued the aboriginal of information centers whitethorn prevarication off-planet, since Earth’s powerfulness grids are already strained to the max. Axios precocious reported Musk rival and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is besides excited by the imaginable of putting information centers into orbit. Musk has an borderline implicit his peers due to the fact that helium already controls the motorboat vehicles.

Per Axios, Musk plans to usage SpaceX’s upcoming IPO to assistance concern his imaginativeness of utilizing Starship to motorboat a constellation of compute satellites that tin run successful changeless sunlight, harvesting star powerfulness 24/7. 

Still, determination are galore roadblocks to making AI datacenters successful abstraction a possibility, not slightest the situation of cooling high-power compute successful a vacuum. Musk’s comments of Tesla gathering “space-based AI compute” acceptable a acquainted pattern: interval an thought that sounds far-fetched, past effort to brute-force it into reality.