The LHC upgrade is foreseen to increase the ATLAS design luminosity by a factor ten, implying the need to build a new tracker suited to the harsh HL-LHC conditions in terms of particle rates and radiation doses. In order to cope with the increase in pile-up backgrounds at the higher luminosity, an all silicon detector is being designed. To successfully face the increased radiation dose, a new generation of extremely radiation hard silicon detectors is being designed. We give an overview of the ATLAS tracker upgrade project, in particular focusing on the crucial innermost silicon strip layers. Results from a wide range of irradiated silicon detectors for the strip region of the future ATLAS tracker are presented. Layout concepts for lightwei...