Elon Musk revealed plans for a chip manufacturing initiative, dubbed “Terafab,” to support artificial intelligence and robotics operations at Tesla and SpaceX.
The project aims to address perceived shortages in semiconductor production capacity for Musk’s ventures and represents a significant vertical integration effort for his companies.
Musk disclosed the plans Saturday in Austin, Texas, according to Bloomberg. A photo indicated the facility would be situated near Tesla’s Austin headquarters and “gigafactory.”
Musk stated the decision stems from insufficient production speed by existing semiconductor manufacturers for his companies’ AI and robotics requirements. He said, “We either build the Terafab or we don’t have the chips, and we need the chips, so we build the Terafab.”
The “Terafab” facility is intended to produce chips capable of 100 to 200 gigawatts of computing power annually for Earth-based applications, with an additional terawatt for space operations.
Musk did not provide a timeline for the “Terafab” project. As Bloomberg noted, Musk lacks a background in semiconductor manufacturing.
