AI Hardware War 'Starts' with Nvidia, Warns Elon Musk

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is sounding the alarm about a potential “all-out war” in the artificial intelligence hardware sector. Musk believes Nvidia's upcoming Blackwell chips will be a major catalyst.

Musk's warning followed a discussion on the "Invest Like the Best" podcast where investor Gavin Baker highlighted the growing competition among key AI infrastructure players. Baker noted that Nvidia's Blackwell platform has the potential to reshape the economics of AI once it is fully implemented.

Responding on X (formerly Twitter), Musk emphasized the critical importance of rapid hardware deployment, particularly in robotics, viewing AI as a high-stakes contest. He wrote, “AI is the highest ELO battle ever. Speed of deployment of hardware, especially robotics, is the [linchpin].” The Elo rating system, originally used for chess, now ranks performance in various fields, including esports and large language models, further illustrating Musk's perspective on the competitive nature of AI development.

The Blackwell chips are anticipated to arrive in early 2026. Their arrival could challenge Google's current strategy of cost-effective AI, as major players vie for dominance in AI hardware. According to Baker, the transition from Nvidia's Hopper chips to Blackwell is the most complex product transition to date.