Tesla Cortex: Elon Musk unveils his upcoming AI supercomputer

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) requires enormous amounts of computing power, and it will only need more as it grows. Consequently, Elon Musk is building Tesla Cortex.

Last August 26, the Tesla CEO posted a video of this AI supercomputer on X. He said it is an “AI training supercluster being built at Tesla HQ in Austin to solve real-world AI.”

EV news website Electrek says the facility is running on a temporary cooling system. Its sources say it might be ready in October 2024, which coincides with the upcoming Tesla Robotaxi reveal.

How will the Tesla Cortex power our AI future?

News outlet Teslarati shares more details regarding Tesla’s Cortex supercomputer. It said that the machine will facilitate Tesla’s most important products.

These are full self-driving capabilities for electric vehicles and the highly-anticipated Optimus humanoid robot. The X post above shows that the facility looks like a regular data center with its rows of bookcase-like computers.

READ: Tesla robots for businesses coming in 2026

Teslarati says these are rows of Nvidia H100/H200 GPUs. Musk stated on his social media platform that Cortex will have 100,000 units, which may provide the colossal computing power he needs for AI training. 

The tech leader noted that his AI supercomputer will need approximately 130 MW of cooling in 2024. Later, he will expand it to 500 MW.

Teslarati says drone flyovers revealed construction work for this cooling system is ongoing at the Giga Texas facility. Also, Musk is building another supercomputer in New York.

He signed an agreement with Buffalo, NY, to extend its commitment to operate Giga New York for five more years until 2034. 

The agreement requires Tesla to invest $500 million in Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer in NY. Musk already invested $350 million in the project, which will help in autonomous driving system development.