Welcome to March 24, 2026 - by Dr. Alex Wissner-Gross

SK Hynix plans to spend $7.9 billion on EUV lithography tools from ASML through 2027, one of the largest orders of its kind. Musk’s Terafab has launched a talent war in Taiwan, recruiting senior chip engineers with its 2-nm fab plan targeting TSMC.

Elon Musk’s Texas Terafab: New Giant Chip Factory Emerges

Teaming up his three flagship companies, Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, Musk introduced the launch of the Terafab initiative. Described as a joint venture, it aspires to create what he calls “the largest chip manufacturing facility ever built.”

Musk’s Terafab Fever Dream Exposes Reality of the AI Chip Crunch

He said he has urged suppliers including TSMC, Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.KS) and Micron Technology Inc. (MU) to expand as quickly as they can — and promised to take pretty much everything they make. “We will buy all of their chips; I have said these exact words to them,” he said. But semiconductor companies have opted to expand at a more measured rate, one far short of what he thinks necessary for Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. “So we either build the Terafab or we don’t have the chips,” he said.

Elon Musk's Terafab: A New Era in Chip Manufacturing for AI and Space | AI News

In the wake of increasing global tensions over tech supply chains, Terafab's domestic focus aligns with U.S. policies aimed at reducing reliance on foreign chip manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung. These steps may bolster national security by safeguarding American technological interests and enabling the country to maintain an edge in AI and space exploration technologies under the umbrella of the CHIPS Act as reported by TechCrunch.

Musk’s ‘Terafab’ Moonshot: Can He Build the World’s Most Advanced Chip Factory From Scratch?

The specialized machines needed for advanced chip production, such as the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools made exclusively by ASML, have multi-year waiting lists. Securing even a handful of these machines would require displacing orders from companies that have been planning their roadmaps for a decade. Musk’s vision for the Terafab extends far beyond powering electric vehicles.

Nvidia's $1 Trillion vs. Terafab: Who Will Really Control the AI Brain?

On March 21, Elon Musk walked into a defunct power plant in Austin and announced Terafab: a $20 to $25 billion joint chip fabrication facility between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, targeting one terawatt of annual AI computing power, produced at ...

Musk says Tesla and SpaceX will build new AI chip facility in Austin | Fox Business

One of Terafab's facilities will be focused on AI chips for Tesla's electric vehicles and Optimus humanoid robots, while the other will be focused on AI chips for space-based data centers made by SpaceX. Musk said that the Terafab chips will be necessary to meet his companies' demand for computing power that exceeds what it can obtain from suppliers.

Terafab: Everything That Could Go Wrong

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly cautioned Musk against underestimating the challenge, saying that matching TSMC’s semiconductor capabilities is “virtually impossible.” The plan involves a lot of hubris, as there are daunting capital and execution risks – and chipmaking is orders of magnitude more complex than battery cell production.

[News] Tesla Reportedly Ramps TeraFab Hiring in Taiwan; TSMC Talent Seen as Primary Target

Industry sources say these requirements closely align with key talent at TSMC, advanced packaging firms, and major IC design houses, specifically targeting those who have already gone through generational transitions in advanced process technologies. Meanwhile, industry observers believe that for Tesla to bring TeraFab into reality, it will require not only more talent but also overcoming at least three major challenges.