Elon Musk on Wednesday further elaborated on his ambitious "Terafab" artificial intelligence chip factory plans. According to public documents submitted by SpaceX, the project plans to invest US$55 billion to build semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Texas. If all stages are completed, the total investment will be up to US$119 billion.
Musk made it clear that the project is a joint venture between SpaceX and Tesla, aiming to provide independent and controllable chip supply for its commercial territory. The factory will use Intel's 14A process technology to produce chips for Tesla's autonomous driving system, "Optimus Prime" humanoid robot, xAI's space data center and other fields.
"We either build Terafab or we don't have chips," Musk has previously warned, saying his company's future demand will exceed total global chip production capacity. He revealed that Tesla will first build a research wafer factory in the Austin factory, investing approximately US$3 billion, while SpaceX will be responsible for the initial large-scale factory part.
The plant is located near the Gibbons Creek Reservoir in Grimes County, Texas, and the local government is expected to review tax incentives at a June meeting. But the project has also faced community resistance. Residents are concerned about the lack of official communication and have questions about the nature of the project - some officials have previously suggested that the site might be used for an xAI data center rather than a chip factory.
It is worth noting that SpaceX is preparing to launch an IPO as early as June, and the company's valuation may be as high as US$1.75 trillion. In the document, SpaceX has listed "independent manufacturing of GPUs" as a major capital expenditure direction, but at the same time admitted that it lacks long-term contracts with many direct chip suppliers and cannot guarantee that the project can proceed as planned.