In This Article:
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One of Tesla's biggest opportunities in AI is autonomous driving.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his ability to understand how to develop game-changing technology.
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There is an opportunity to complement Tesla's existing AI infrastructure with Musk's other venture, xAI and the Colossus supercomputer.
When it comes to the biggest companies developing artificial intelligence (AI), it's hard not to think about the "Magnificent Seven" -- that is, Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).
To a degree, however, Tesla is somewhat of an outlier in this cohort. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet have already benefited immensely from AI adoption, particularly across cloud computing infrastructure. Apple and Meta are both working hard to integrate AI services into their devices and platforms. And of course, Nvidia's GPUs are a key piece of the hardware powering generative AI applications across the globe.
But what about Tesla? Sure, the company develops autonomous driving software and has its sights on building a ride-hailing fleet, called the Robotaxi. But in my opinion, the AI thesis surrounding Tesla is currently more of a narrative than concrete reality.
Although this may cause some investors to remain skeptical of Tesla and its ambitions, the company's eccentric chief executive officer, Elon Musk, has received a major nod of validation from none other than Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia.
Let's explore why Huang is so impressed by Musk, and detail what could be in store at the intersection of Tesla and AI down the road.
Musk manages a lot of other businesses beyond Tesla. In recent years, one of Musk's newer projects is a start-up called xAI.
xAI built a supercomputer called Colossus, which runs on hundreds of thousands of Nvidia's GPU chipsets and is planning on deploying more. While I'm sure Musk's decision to use Nvidia's chips earned him some brownie points with Huang, that's not why the Nvidia CEO praised what xAI is building.
Rather, it's how xAI got Colossus up and running that caught Huang's attention.
During an interview with venture capitalist Brad Gerstner, Huang said that designing and planning the infrastructure needed to build Colossus could take roughly three years, and then actually take another year to build the supercomputer.
Musk and the xAI team built Colossus and had it running in 19 days! When singing his praise for Musk, Huang said that what xAI has done is "singular."