Musk Diverts $500 Million in Nvidia AI Chips From Tesla to X
Internal Nvidia emails reveal Elon Musk redirected a massive shipment of AI processors originally reserved for Tesla to his social media company X. The diversion delays Tesla's supercomputer setup by months and directly contradicts Musk's public statements about the automaker's AI spending.
Internal Nvidia emails reveal that Elon Musk directs the company to divert a sizable shipment of AI processors away from Tesla and to his social media company X. This decision pushes back Tesla's receipt of over $500 million in graphics processing units by several months, which directly impacts the automaker's ability to set up the supercomputers it needs for autonomous vehicle and robotics development.
The correspondence shows that Musk prioritizes the deployment of 12,000 H100 GPUs at X over Tesla, promising that X's original orders would eventually go to the automaker instead. However, this internal shuffle directly contradicts the bold claims Musk makes on Tesla's first-quarter earnings call, where he states the company plans to increase its active H100 chips from 35,000 to 85,000 by the end of the year.
Nvidia staff explicitly note in late April that Musk's public comments about massive AI spending conflict with actual bookings and future forecasts. The leaked emails highlight a growing tension between the CEO and agitated Tesla shareholders, especially since ongoing layoffs at Tesla's Texas Gigafactory threaten to cause even further delays to the company's critical AI projects.