Rivian rallies after detailing shift toward a custom autonomy chip and deeper AI integration

Summary

Rivian shares jumped after analysts responded positively to the company’s plan to move away from Nvidia processors for parts of its self-driving stack and to develop a custom autonomy/AI chip. The chip is set to be manufactured by TSMC and is positioned as a cornerstone for Rivian’s next vehicle platform (including the upcoming R2 line) and future “eyes-off” functionality timelines. This matters because autonomy is increasingly a compute-and-data advantage game: custom silicon can lower costs, improve latency, and let Rivian tune hardware to its model architecture. The risk, of course, is execution—custom chips are expensive, timelines slip easily, and safety validation remains the gating factor regardless of model capability.