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SpaceX and Tesla are investing USD 16.8 billion to build Terafab, an advanced AI semiconductor complex in Texas aimed at narrowing a growing gap in global chip supply, according to official statements. The facility is designed to support chip production at scale for Elon Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX.
The first phase of the project will be developed in Grimes County, Texas, and is expected to create at least 3,000 high-paying jobs for engineers, technicians and plant operators. SpaceX said future expansion phases could take the total investment significantly higher.
In a statement posted on its website on Thursday, SpaceX said the vertically integrated facility will span 100 million square feet and will make, package and test advanced logic and memory chips under one roof. The chips are meant to power Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots and Cybercabs, as well as high-performance processors for SpaceX’s planned orbital data centres.
“The Terafab is bringing cutting-edge manufacturing to America, creating thousands of high-paying jobs in the Lone Star State, and enabling us to produce AI chips at scale for use on Earth and in space,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in the statement. The company said the mega facility is intended to meet an expected need for more than one terawatt of computing power across Musk’s ventures.
The move comes as Musk deepens the integration of artificial intelligence work across his businesses after SpaceX acquired AI startup xAI earlier this year. Welcoming the project, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a USD 30 million Texas Enterprise Fund performance grant, saying in an official press release that the facility will “accelerate chip production in Texas at an unprecedented scale and expand economic opportunity across the region.”
Overall, the Terafab project marks a major joint investment by SpaceX and Tesla in AI chip manufacturing, combining large-scale production plans with job creation and support from the Texas government.
With PTI Inputs
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