Elon Musk said early Wednesday that Tesla and his other companies will build and run their planned Terafab chip complex themselves, ruling out the idea that TSMC would own or operate the Texas facility.
Musk was responding to speculation that the most likely outcome for the project was TSMC owning and running the fab. “No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that,” he wrote. “Maybe TSMC subleases part of the Terafab if they want, but nothing more than that.”
The reply follows a weekend in which Musk confirmed talks with TSMC about the project, calling them “just discussions” while adding that “something may come of it.” Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan told Bloomberg earlier Wednesday that Intel, a partner in the project, remains involved.
Tesla and SpaceX announced Terafab earlier this year as a Texas chip complex meant to make AI chips for the companies’ own needs, with a planned initial investment of $16.8 billion. The chips are expected to power Tesla’s driver-assistance software, its Cybercab robotaxi fleet and Optimus humanoid robots, along with computing for xAI. Musk has argued for months that outside suppliers cannot keep up with his companies’ demand, saying at one point that even TSMC could not make enough chips for what Tesla needs.
The stakes go beyond cars and robots. SpaceX has said chips from the complex could also feed the space-based data centers it is developing, and the company recently outlined plans for a vast AI satellite constellation that would need enormous computing capacity. The build-out echoes the manufacturing push Musk described on Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call, and the growing Cybercab fleet in Austin is one of the first products that will depend on this silicon. For now, the clearest signal is who is in charge, and Musk wants no ambiguity about that.
With Intel still in the mix and TSMC talks ongoing, the partner picture is not fully settled, but Musk’s message is that the fab itself stays under his companies’ control.
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