Elon Musk Says Robot RAM Needs 'Will Exceed Everything Else on Earth' as Analyst Eyes Chipmakers

Elon Musk says demand for computer memory from humanoid robots could eventually surpass every other use on Earth, a prediction that has prompted one analyst to flag potential long-term gains for chipmakers including Micron Technology and South Korea's SK Hynix.

Musk made the comments on X on Monday. Tesla shares rose 5.21 per cent that day to close at $391.62 (£294) in New York, though the move does not establish that the post drove it.

He argued that robots' memory requirements would outstrip all other applications because they operate in the physical world. He added that the needs of superintelligence would be far greater still, and suggested almost all such computing could eventually take place in deep space. He offered few details to support the projections.

Analyst Pencils in Massive Robot Memory Demand

Shay Boloor, an analyst at Futurum Equities, responded with a hypothetical scenario. If Tesla eventually built 10 million Optimus robots a year, each with 72GB of memory, annual demand would reach about 720 petabytes.

The figure depends on both assumptions holding. It is not a Tesla production target or a confirmed memory order. Benzinga reported on 1 October that Musk had said Tesla cut the memory specification of its AI5 chip to 72GB, but that does not confirm the figure for every robot.

Boloor said AI moving beyond data centres could open a significant new market for low-power memory. Whether Micron and SK Hynix capture it will depend on the memory configurations robot makers adopt and the suppliers they choose. The scale and profitability of any opportunity remain uncertain.

Forecasts Point To Surging Robot DRAM Needs

Counterpoint Research has forecast that total DRAM demand from humanoid robots will rise more than 20-fold between 2026 and 2030, from about 8,300 terabits to 172,000 terabits. It expects average capacity per robot to increase from 19GB to 39GB over the same period.

The firm expects battery-powered robots to create demand for low-power DRAM and high-capacity NAND flash. The exact mix will depend on individual robot designs.

Micron chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra said on the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call in September that physical AI could become a significant driver of memory and storage demand by the end of the decade.

Musk's Optimus Schedule Lags Hypothetical Scenario

On Tesla's third-quarter earnings call on 21 October, Musk said the company expected to begin delivering Optimus robots to outside customers towards the end of 2027. He said the Fremont, California, production line could take at least a year, and possibly longer, to reach an annualised rate of 20,000 units a week.

If sustained for a full year, that rate would equate to about 1.04 million robots, well below the 10 million in Boloor's scenario. Musk said the robot's design, AI, reliability and supply chain still needed work. He identified industrial tasks as a likely first use and household work as a longer-term possibility.

Benzinga has also reported that Tesla placed a large component order intended to support roughly 5,000 Optimus robots. Tesla has not publicly confirmed the figure.

Musk's projections remain speculative. Actual memory demand will depend on the pace of robot production, the specifications adopted and whether humanoid robots achieve widespread commercial use.