Musk to Invest $16.8B in World's Largest Chip Fab with Particle Accelerator Lithography
AI寒武纪 · wechat · 2026-08-08
SpaceX and Tesla have announced a joint investment of approximately $16.8 billion to build Terafab, a massive chip manufacturing center in Texas. The companies project their future compute demand will exceed 1 terawatt, far surpassing current global chip supplies.
Key Plans & Technical Highlights:
- Self-sustained Energy: The facility will include its own natural gas power plant and large-scale Tesla energy storage systems, operating entirely off the grid.
- Vertical Integration: The fab will integrate chip design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing in one location to accelerate internal iteration and reduce reliance on external suppliers.
- Disruptive Lithography: Elon Musk confirmed the plant will use Free-Electron Laser (FEL) lithography. This means Terafab might bypass ASML's current tin-based plasma EUV sources, opting instead for a particle accelerator to generate high-power, cleaner extreme ultraviolet light.
Products & Capacity:
The factory will produce edge computing chips for Tesla's Optimus robots and autonomous driving, as well as high-power chips for SpaceX's space data centers. The initial phase will create at least 3,000 jobs.
Related event: Musk Plans Terafab Superchip Plant in Texas, Investment Up to $119B(10 posts)→
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