Tesla's AI Ambitions Expose Wider Chip Shortage as Musk Thanks Micron
During Tesla's Q2 2026 earnings call on July 23, CEO Elon Musk publicly acknowledged and thanked Micron Technology for its 'very significant allocation' of memory chips, a move that signals a deeper AI chip supply crunch. This is not the first time Musk has praised Micron; he mentioned them twice during the call, which is unusual in itself.
Musk's comments about current memory chip pricing being 'pretty insane' should catch the attention of anyone operating in AI, data centers, or crypto mining, all sectors competing for the same constrained pool of advanced semiconductors. By publicly acknowledging the partnership and its 'reasonable terms,' Musk was telling investors that Tesla has locked in supply while competitors might not be so lucky.
Tesla's AI ambitions span custom chip development, the Optimus humanoid robot program, and an expanding Robotaxi fleet, all of which are voracious consumers of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory. The demand for these products has surged across multiple sectors simultaneously, but the supply side simply hasn't kept pace.