Musk Pushes for Accelerated Delivery of Chipmaking Tools for Terafab
The Tesla and SpaceX chief says suppliers are speeding up orders to hit a target date for volume chip production in late 2028.
By Ji-eun Choi ·
Elon Musk stated on October 20 that semiconductor equipment manufacturers, including ASML, are rushing to deliver tools for the planned Terafab facility. The goal is to hit a volume chip production target at the project's primary site in Gibbons Creek, Texas, by the third or fourth quarter of 2028.
The timeline for this target was described during a broadcast of the SpaceX Q3 2026 earnings call. Musk, who leads both companies collaborating on the project, labeled the dates as highly aspirational. He added that the schedule carries "big error bars" and that suppliers are being asked to accelerate delivery timelines.
The project began as a joint venture between Tesla and SpaceX to construct a large-scale manufacturing plant. Intel joined the effort in April 2026 to assist with developing fabrication technology using its 14A manufacturing node. The facility is designed to produce logic, memory, and advanced packaging components for AI computing systems.
In addition to the manufacturing plant, Musk outlined plans for his AI companies' computing capacity. He expects to have 2.5 to 3 gigawatts active by the end of 2026. He also said he is confident about adding an incremental 10 gigawatts in 2027.
To reach a total of 13 gigawatts of computing capacity by the end of 2027, SpaceX and xAI are acquiring hardware from Nvidia. Plans include a training cluster with 440,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs to be online by the end of the second quarter of 2027.
The Terafab facility is planned to manufacture 1 terawatt of AI computing power per year. Musk stated that the commercial value of the output from this single building would place it within the top 20 global country GDPs. For context, Switzerland's GDP is approximately $1.14 trillion.
The project requires collaboration from various equipment makers. ASML is the sole commercial supplier of the extreme ultraviolet lithography systems required for the project. Other suppliers include Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA Corporation, and Tokyo Electron.
The facility is intended to supply chips for xAI clusters, self-driving vehicles, Optimus humanoid robots, and SpaceX's orbital AI data center. It also aims to provide processors for the broader AI industry.
The scale of the project has faced scrutiny. Research firm Gartner estimates total global AI-optimized data center capacity is roughly 44 gigawatts as of late 2026. This figure represents 4.4% of Terafab's planned output.
The next steps for the project involve the delivery of equipment to the construction site in Texas. SpaceX plans to produce its first experimental test chip at its research facility in Austin, Texas, around the second quarter of 2027.
Source: Tom's Hardware
