Photo: Tesla
Tesla is set to build a $500 million AI supercomputer at its Riverbend Gigafactory on South Park Avenue in Buffalo, as announced by Governor Kathy Hochul this Friday morning.
The Tesla Dojo supercomputer is designed to process “millions of terabytes of data” from Tesla vehicles, aiding in the development of autonomous driving technology.
Governor Hochul cited the region’s power supply, strong talent pipeline, and availability of usable space as key factors in Tesla’s decision to build the supercomputer in Buffalo. “That computer will be housed here, but it will power innovation, ideas and people all over the state of New York,” stated Hochul during a news conference, reports Buffalo Business First.
In conjunction with this announcement, Hochul also revealed the establishment of the Empire AI Consortium at the University at Buffalo. This consortium, a group of universities and research institutions, will explore AI opportunities. The initiative represents a 10-year, $400 million investment and is part of Hochul’s budget for this year.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, commented on the investment on X, saying, “The governor is correct that this is a Dojo Supercomputer, but $500M, while a large sum, is only equivalent to a 10k H100 system from Nvidia. Tesla will spend more than that on Nvidia hardware this year. The table stakes for being competitive in AI are at least several billion dollars per year at this point.”
When asked about potential plans to purchase chips from AMD, Musk affirmed with a “yes.”
This development marks a significant investment in AI technology and signals Tesla’s commitment to advancing self-driving vehicle capabilities.