Electrek - Tesla and SpaceX announce $25B ‘Terafab’ chip factory — here’s why it reeks of desperation

[ukyank]

When I see someone excited for people losing their jobs, I know to stop taking them seriously.

Human advancement has always put certain people or even entire industries of people out of work.

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[RandomMcRandomFace]

YA'LL GOT Your Elon baaaadddd, Tesla Baaaddd blinders on. You have no clue what's coming down the pipe and how this all ties together!
-Tesla just announce a major expansion of their Giga Texas facilities. Room for the Terafab plant, room to double the size of the existing plant (to build what is believed to be Model Y-L or Cyber SUV...New frame spotted with open crate at giga-texas. Definitely much bigger than existing vehicles. Ideal to replace Model X and be true full size 3row SUV competitor).
-Current HW4 Hardware in Tesla cars has the Ai4 chip. The same chip that will be in Optimus robot.
-The Cybertruck has bi-directional charging and rolling out to the 2026 ModelY performance, soon after all ModelY,3's You will have the capability to charge up over night for cheap at off-peak and discharge some energy during the day at-peak and "make money" if you choose.
-Likewise You will "make money" off the computer in your car while it's parked and doing too. Tesla will be enabling your Ai4 chip in the FSD computer to work as an "Ai Agent". Once again putting your car to use and "making money" while parked producing Ai cloud compute and doing work.
-Terafab will produce (as many as they can) current Ai4 chips, then Ai5 & 6 and also specialized future D3 Ai chips for their space based satellite datacenters. That is a heck of a lot of chips.
-Tesla has signed contracts with each of their suppliers for Optimus for 160k parts for 2026 alone. Tesla will build 160k Optimus robots by end of year 2026. Production estimated to start in July. So first year alone 160k A14 chips required. These robot will be used by Tesla in their own facilities doing useful work replacing expensive humans. 2027 further ramp estimates of 500,000k Optimus for sale to customers (other businesses, factory type work). 2028 for sale to consumers, estimate 1M+ units.

-Tesla will have the full vertical integration for Ai in self driving cars, Ai in robots, SpaceX will deliver datacenters to space. SpaceX will be providing the satellite communications pathways between everything.
-SpaceX and Xai have already merged (privately)
-There is now a SpaceX/Xai public IPO coming in June/July. Expected to raise "75billion", plenty of money to fund their ambitious roadmap.
-Ultimately a lot of analysts believe after that there will be a merger between SpaceX and Tesla further tying everything together.

You don't have to like Elon but If you guys don't see this ecosystem and monstrous corporation forming and literally making the future happen with FSD cars, humanoid robots Ai systems ect...you are out to lunch!! You will miss a massive opportunity if you aren't part of it, and invested.
FYI. I personally didn't like Apple and stopped using their phones after the iPhone 4...but I still invested big time in Apple because others still liked Apple and I wanted to be richer off that.
-Do you all want to be right, or be richer and a part of the future, which is coming whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not?

I mean is there any claim from Tesla/Elon you don’t believe? More ways to make money off your car? Like appreciating asset from FSD? Is the 160k Optimus robots akin to the number of robotaxis that do not exist?

There is zero chance that they make 160k robots by the end of this year. I mean it is absurd.

Do you really believe this nonsense?

 

[VandalSibs]

Human advancement has always put certain people or even entire industries of people out of work.

I'm not denying that. However, the entire tone of that user's post is "You are all wrong about Elon and should be excited for what Tesla/SpaceX/xAI are going to bring about". With that context, the line "doing useful work replacing expensive humans" shows a lack of empathy.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I'm not denying that. However, the entire tone of that user's post is "You are all wrong about Elon and should be excited for what Tesla/SpaceX/xAI are going to bring about". With that context, the line "doing useful work replacing expensive humans" shows a lack of empathy.

I have a special place for these people

 

[Motoarzon]

When I see someone excited for people losing their jobs, I know to stop taking them seriously.

I never said that so stop lying. People don't lose jobs, they only change jobs! Innovation has always caused people to "change" jobs. Those people move on to other newer jobs that didn't exist before.
Proof: In spit of all the "massive" innovation and automation the past 50yrs how come our unemployment rate isn't 80% or more? There is actually more people employed today at one job or another more than any other time in history.

 

[Motoarzon]

I'm not denying that. However, the entire tone of that user's post is "You are all wrong about Elon and should be excited for what Tesla/SpaceX/xAI are going to bring about". With that context, the line "doing useful work replacing expensive humans" shows a lack of empathy.

You have summarized my post with your own words, taking it out of content, and to fuel your own narrative, and then labeled me having no empathy. This has nothing to do with empathy.
-When I say "useful work" you know darned well I meant robots doing work at levels that humans can do, work that many people currently don't believe a robot can do.
-When I say "replacing expensive humans". Yes, humans are expensive for some tasks. There are millions of "menial" jobs which humans should not be doing. Robots can do them and those humans can go on to do bigger, better, more important things.

 

[skyguyscott]

You have summarized my post with your own words, taking it out of content, and to fuel your own narrative, and then labeled me having no empathy. This has nothing to do with empathy.
-When I say "useful work" you know darned well I meant robots doing work at levels that humans can do, work that many people currently don't believe a robot can do.
-When I say "replacing expensive humans". Yes, humans are expensive for some tasks. There are millions of "menial" jobs which humans should not be doing. Robots can do them and those humans can go on to do bigger, better, more important things.

I apologize for the brief tangent, and I do appreciate your enthusiastic optimism, but I do want to caution your assumption regarding employment.

Highly respected and educated economists in the 1990s were certain the NAFTA would increase the nations wealth, bring universal improvements to the quality of life, and while some jobs would be eliminated, workers would soon migrate to better paying jobs elsewhere.

They now admit they were wrong, some seeing the negative impact even as far back as 20+ years ago. Entire communities in the American midwest were decimated and still have not recovered. Workers there did not find better paying jobs, many fell victim to opioid abuse, families were destroyed, small towns grappled with population loss and a collapse of revenue. Once thriving cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, are decaying skeletons of their former selves.

So, forgive my skepticism regarding the utopian vision of automation bringing a life of leisure and freedom to the masses, because I have heard this pitch before and seen the reality of implementation and you will need to show me data and explain at a more granular level the market mechanisms of wealth distribution, particularly for the working class currently underemployed, before I am convinced.

 

[Zoidz]

YA'LL GOT Your Elon baaaadddd, Tesla Baaaddd blinders on. You have no clue what's coming down the pipe and how this all ties together!
-Tesla just announce a major expansion of their Giga Texas facilities. Room for the Terafab plant, room to double the size of the existing plant (to build what is believed to be Model Y-L or Cyber SUV...New frame spotted with open crate at giga-texas. Definitely much bigger than existing vehicles. Ideal to replace Model X and be true full size 3row SUV competitor).
-Current HW4 Hardware in Tesla cars has the Ai4 chip. The same chip that will be in Optimus robot.
-The Cybertruck has bi-directional charging and rolling out to the 2026 ModelY performance, soon after all ModelY,3's You will have the capability to charge up over night for cheap at off-peak and discharge some energy during the day at-peak and "make money" if you choose.
-Likewise You will "make money" off the computer in your car while it's parked and doing too. Tesla will be enabling your Ai4 chip in the FSD computer to work as an "Ai Agent". Once again putting your car to use and "making money" while parked producing Ai cloud compute and doing work.
-Terafab will produce (as many as they can) current Ai4 chips, then Ai5 & 6 and also specialized future D3 Ai chips for their space based satellite datacenters. That is a heck of a lot of chips.
-Tesla has signed contracts with each of their suppliers for Optimus for 160k parts for 2026 alone. Tesla will build 160k Optimus robots by end of year 2026. Production estimated to start in July. So first year alone 160k A14 chips required. These robot will be used by Tesla in their own facilities doing useful work replacing expensive humans. 2027 further ramp estimates of 500,000k Optimus for sale to customers (other businesses, factory type work). 2028 for sale to consumers, estimate 1M+ units.

-Tesla will have the full vertical integration for Ai in self driving cars, Ai in robots, SpaceX will deliver datacenters to space. SpaceX will be providing the satellite communications pathways between everything.
-SpaceX and Xai have already merged (privately)
-There is now a SpaceX/Xai public IPO coming in June/July. Expected to raise "75billion", plenty of money to fund their ambitious roadmap.
-Ultimately a lot of analysts believe after that there will be a merger between SpaceX and Tesla further tying everything together.

You don't have to like Elon but If you guys don't see this ecosystem and monstrous corporation forming and literally making the future happen with FSD cars, humanoid robots Ai systems ect...you are out to lunch!! You will miss a massive opportunity if you aren't part of it, and invested.
FYI. I personally didn't like Apple and stopped using their phones after the iPhone 4...but I still invested big time in Apple because others still liked Apple and I wanted to be richer off that.
-Do you all want to be right, or be richer and a part of the future, which is coming whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not?

You have confirmed (assuming you are correct above) my reason for posting the article. It's an ambitious plan with unrealistic timelines. Elon said millions of robots will build the factory ready for production in 2027. By your numbers above, Elon's claim is impossible. This affects the whole industry. Just like ambitious claims about Solid State Batteries.

Specific to investment, I purchased shares of XOVR last year to get in on SpaceX. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Cycliste]

That didn’t take long.

“Intel is proud to join the Terafab project with @SpaceX, @xAI, and @tesla to help refactor silicon fab technology. 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.”

Terafab is a capacity deal dressed up as a Tesla moonshot. Intel brings the process technology, the equipment expertise, and the packaging — the things that actually make a fab work. Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI bring the demand and, presumably, a big chunk of the capital.

Musk sells dreams, and Musk is dreamin’

https://electrek.co/2026/04/07/tesla-terafab-intel-joins-foundry/

 

[CharonPDX]

"produce 1 TW/year of compute"?

As in, produce enough silicon that if deployed in servers, would consume 1 Terawatt of energy?

So at the end of year 1, the Gated Rat datacenter would consume 1 Terawatt of energy, at the end of year two, it would consume 2 Terawatts, etc?

That's…. Impossible.

The current US power grid's peak capacity is only barely over 1 Terawatt! The entire Earth's generation capacity is roughly 9 Terawatts. That means by the end of year 3, his delusion-ness believes that he will have a data center consuming 25% of all the world's electricity supply.

 

[Cycliste]

https://www.techradar.com/pro/float...r-show-of-support-from-japanese-giant-hitachi

Floating data centers cruise a bit closer after a major show of support from Japanese giant Hitachi

Hitachi will contribute its experience from operating land-based facilities in Japan and deploying containerized data systems in overseas markets.

Demand for data center capacity continues to increase as artificial intelligence systems require more computing power and supporting infrastructure.

This demand creates pressure to identify locations that can support cooling, energy supply, and long-term operational stability.

Japan faces land constraints, particularly around Tokyo and Osaka, where most existing data campuses remain concentrated, and the floating concept offers an alternative, reducing construction timelines, meaning ship conversion could potentially be completed in about one year.

Musk: No, no, no! You launch them into space and they burn up in the atmosphere after 5 years.You are doing it all wrong!

 

[runwithscissors]

Human advancement has always put certain people or even entire industries of people out of work.

I look forward to Cybercab and it's competitors. No need to deal with drivers anymore! Just pick me up and drop me off.

 

[skyguyscott]

I look forward to Cybercab and it's competitors. No need to deal with drivers anymore! Just pick me up and drop me off.

I look forward to scanning kiosks and their growing proliferation. No need to chit chat with cashiers, just swipe and go with no awkward human interaction.

I look forward to robocalls and the efficiency and profits they promise. No need to explain to a human the unique circumstances of my situation that are not pre-scripted. Just spend hours in fruitless attempts to resolve unpleasant situations.

I look forward to automated insurance adjusters. No need to wait for and explain to an agent the extent of destruction and discuss policy coverage. Just upload some pictures and wait for a check to arrive.

I look forward to further advancements in robo surgeons and the precision they promise. No need to rely on the insight and experience of a bright and gifted human who is prone to err. Just trust the computerized, sterile machine to slice and stitch and respond instantly to any of thousands of pre-programmed complications.

I look forward to Cyber sex and the pleasure it promises. No need to deal with awkward and potentially infected Humans and the emotional aftermath, or the financial strain of raising offspring. Just apply the bio sensors and let the machine read the physiological feedback and bring me to orgasmic climax without any ickiness, guilt or uncomfortable cuddling.

I look forward to a future in which none of us ever have to see, speak to, or interact with any other humans ever. Imagine such a blissful utopia, and how much more interesting our lives will be!

 

[Yossarian]

I look forward to scanning kiosks and their growing proliferation. No need to chit chat with cashiers, just swipe and go with no awkward human interaction.

I look forward to robocalls and the efficiency and profits they promise. No need to explain to a human the unique circumstances of my situation that are not pre-scripted. Just spend hours in fruitless attempts to resolve unpleasant situations.

I look forward to automated insurance adjusters. No need to wait for and explain to an agent the extent of destruction and discuss policy coverage. Just upload some pictures and wait for a check to arrive.

I look forward to further advancements in robo surgeons and the precision they promise. No need to rely on the insight and experience of a bright and gifted human who is prone to err. Just trust the computerized, sterile machine to slice and stitch and respond instantly to any of thousands of pre-programmed complications.

I look forward to Cyber sex and the pleasure it promises. No need to deal with awkward and potentially infected Humans and the emotional aftermath, or the financial strain of raising offspring. Just apply the bio sensors and let the machine read the physiological feedback and bring me to orgasmic climax without any ickiness, guilt or uncomfortable cuddling.

I look forward to a future in which none of us ever have to see, speak to, or interact with any other humans ever. Imagine such a blissful utopia, and how much more interesting our lives will be!

You may not have to look too far or wait very long. The following is an edited selection from a recent interview with Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. The interview, on NPR, was specifically about the use of AI by the Pentagon, but the conversation ranged afield just a bit.

"The only way [the AI companies] can justify the amount of money that's been invested into this AI industry is if they race to replace economic labor in the economy. That's the stated mission statement of OpenAI - is to be able to do everything that a human laborer can do. . .

I think it is already happening. There's something in economics called the resource curse - when a country gets more and more of its economic output from mining one resource. When that happens, the country becomes sort of addicted to just that resource being mined and doesn't want to invest in its people. It just wants to invest in that resource. . .

what happens when in the United States, a few years from now, all of the economic output is coming from five AI companies that are automating all the science, automating all the physical labor, automating all the robotics and physical - etc.? Suddenly, why as a government would you invest in health care or child care or people? Because. . . the people aren't valuable anymore. . .

Do you have to listen to the people's political power if you don't get your tax revenue from the people anymore, you get it from AI companies? . . .

[what justifies the government saying that] we should be investing in data centers and prioritizing electricity for data centers, not for people. It leads to things like Sam Altman saying just a few weeks ago - when he's asked - well, doesn't it take a lot of energy to train AI? - you know what his response was? Well, doesn't it take a lot of energy to grow a human over 20 years? This is leading to an antihuman future. It leads to the devaluing of humans and the valuing of AI. And this is something that's very dangerous. And the thing that people should take away is this is the last chance that our political voice will matter."

 

[Zoidz]

Preface: For those saying this thread is not releavant to Rivian vs Competition:
"One facility would power cars and humanoid robots, while the other would be designed for AI data centers in space, Musk had said."

If you following the semi industry and/or the stock market, you know that Intel has been struggling for years because they failed miserably at evolving beyond x86 technology. Part of Intel's recovery strategy is to increase contract manufacturing - this fits in that plan. If you connect some dots ...... Trump administration taking a $8.9B / 10% share ownership in Intel .... Musk's previous working relationship with Trump Administration .... it's easy to see factors that may have made this happen.

It's a huge risk for Intel - it's certainly not guaranteed that any of Musk's lofty plans in this area will result in financial success.

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