Tesla is disbanding its Dojo supercomputer team, with project lead Peter Bannon departing and Elon Musk halting the project—ending efforts to develop in-house autonomous driving chips, insiders say.
Around 20 team members joined new firm DensityAI (co-founded by ex-Dojo head Ganesh Venkataramanan), while others move to internal data center projects. Tesla will rely more on external partners like NVIDIA, AMD, and Samsung for tech and chip manufacturing.
Tesla’s stock slipped <1% after-hours. The firm has seen key talent losses this year and recently struck a $16.5B deal with Samsung for AI semiconductors through 2033, aiming to produce AI6 chips in Texas and reduce TSMC reliance.
Musk previously noted a dual track with NVIDIA and Dojo ("a long shot but worth trying") and hinted at integrating partner tech.
Dojo Timeline:
2019: Mentioned as AI training supercomputer.
2021: Unveiled with D1 chip plans.
2023: Targeted top 5 global supercomputer status (unmet).
2025: Absent from earnings; new NVIDIA-powered Cortex cluster launched.
ICgoodFind: Tesla’s Dojo move signals major strategy shift, potentially altering its autonomous driving trajectory.
