Tesla will spend $500 million to construct one in all its so-called “Dojo” supercomputers at its Buffalo, New York manufacturing facility, the state’s governor Kathy Hochul stated Friday throughout a information convention simply days after CEO Elon Musk referred to as the undertaking a “lengthy shot.”
Tesla’s determination was “knowledgeable by New York’s dependable energy provide, sturdy expertise pipeline and availability of usable area for the undertaking,” in accordance with Hochul’s workplace.
Dojo, which was first introduced at Tesla’s “AI Day” occasion in 2021, is a supercomputer meant to assist advance the corporate’s still-unrealized aim of constructing a self-driving automobile. Tesla plans to make use of the supercomputer to course of reams of video information that come off of its electrical autos in an effort to practice the AI that now powers its most superior driver help software program, which it calls Full Self-Driving Beta. Musk stated final yr that Tesla plans to spend “nicely over $1 billion” on Dojo.
Bringing the Dojo undertaking to Buffalo is the most recent shift in Tesla’s priorities for the placement, which has become one thing of a boondoggle for New York state. As soon as dubbed “Gigafactory 2,” Tesla took over the manufacturing facility from SolarCity when it acquired the troubled photo voltaic panel firm in 2016. The state had already dedicated $750 million to the plant by that time. Tesla promised to make Photo voltaic Roof tiles there, however struggled to supply the product at scale. Its companion, Panasonic, pulled out of the plant in 2020, and Tesla pivoted to using individuals who labeled coaching information for its less-advanced Autopilot software program.
Musk stated final April that he believed the Dojo supercomputer undertaking was a “lengthy shot wager” that would “repay in a really, very huge approach… within the multi-hundred-billion-dollar degree.”
He reiterated the purpose this week on a name with analysts. “It’s not, like, a certain factor in any respect, It’s a high-risk, high-payoff program,” he stated. “We’re scaling it up, and we’ve plans for Dojo 1.5, Dojo 2, Dojo 3, and whatnot. So, you understand, I believe it’s acquired potential, however the form of measurement sufficient excessive danger, excessive payoff.”
Whereas the $500 million funding obtained cheers throughout Hochul’s press convention, Musk downplayed the determine in a social media put up on X, noting the corporate would spend far more cash on Nvidia {hardware} in 2024.
“The governor is right that this can be a Dojo Supercomputer, however $500M, whereas clearly a big sum of cash, is simply equal to a 10k H100 system from Nvidia,” Musk wrote within the put up on X. “Tesla will spend greater than that on Nvidia {hardware} this yr. The desk stakes for being aggressive in AI are a minimum of a number of billion {dollars} per yr at this level.”
