The chipmaker will assist in designing and constructing a semiconductor facility for SpaceX and Tesla.
Intel is joining Elon Musk’s Terafab AI chip project in Austin, Texas. On Tuesday, the American chipmaker announced its partnership to help design and build the expansive facility, which will supply AI chips to Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Tesla. These chips will power Musk’s plans for a “robot army” of self-driving cars and humanoid robots, as well as data centers to be launched into space. SpaceX plans to go public later this year.
“Terafab will close the gap between today’s chip production and the future’s demand – a future among the stars,” states the Terafab website.
Intel’s involvement reduces Musk’s burden to construct the factory himself. Recently, Musk expressed his urgent need for someone to build a chip factory to support his AI goals, questioning whether the industry could meet the demand. “Can someone else build these things?” Musk asked during an earnings call. “I mean, it’s very hard to build these things.”
Constructing a chip fab is complex, costly, time-consuming, and requires specialized equipment. Musk has experience with factories for cars and rockets, but not silicon.
Now, the factory’s construction appears to fall to Intel, which is facing its own challenges. “Our ability to design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale will help accelerate Terafab’s aim to produce 1 TW/year of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics,” Intel stated in a post on X.
Intel is currently building two fabs in Arizona as part of a $20 billion investment to expand its US operations. Taiwan’s TSMC also plans a “Gigafab” north of Phoenix, aiming to operate up to 12 advanced semiconductor plants.