Project Timeline

Elon Musk announces Terafab at the Seaholm Power Plant in Austin, Texas. The project is revealed as a joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI with a $20–25 billion investment targeting one terawatt of annual compute.

Details emerge confirming Austin, Texas as the site for the Terafab facility. The project will be jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX, with xAI as a partner.

Intel officially joined the Terafab project alongside Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, stating it is 'proud to join' to help 'refactor silicon fab technology' and accelerate the 1 TW/year compute target. Intel becomes a key partner for design, fabrication, and advanced packaging.

Tesla broke ground on the Terafab site at the North Campus of Giga Texas, marking the official start of physical construction.

On Tesla's Q1 2026 earnings call, Elon Musk announced Terafab will standardize on Intel's 14A manufacturing process, calling it a strong fit because 14A should be mature by the time Terafab scales. Terafab is reported to be the first major external customer for the node. SpaceX is expected to handle high-volume manufacturing aspects, potentially via a technology licensing deal.

Tesla and SpaceX staff aggressively contact major chip equipment suppliers — Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Lam Research, and Samsung — seeking quotes, delivery timelines, and priority access for etchers, photomasks, and substrates. Reports describe the push as moving at 'light speed,' with premiums offered for accelerated delivery.

Tesla posted job openings in Taiwan targeting experienced semiconductor engineers (5+ years in advanced processes) to support a 'vertically integrated semiconductor factory' combining logic, memory, packaging, test, and lithography mask production.

SpaceX's IPO filing (Form S-1) publicly revealed Grimes County, Texas (Gibbons Creek Reservoir) as the target location for the full-scale Terafab manufacturing complex — separate from the Austin prototype fab. The filing disclosed an initial investment estimate of $55 billion and a total project scope of up to $119 billion across all phases, with a goal of one terawatt of AI compute capacity per year.

SpaceX's full S-1 SEC filing described Terafab as a multi-phase, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing facility targeting one terawatt of compute hardware per year. Critically, the filing disclosed that the Tesla partnership remains in 'very early stages' with no binding financial terms, IP rights, or committed timelines — and that Terafab 'may be delayed or may not achieve its targets.'

Grimes County Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a reinvestment zone designation and a full property tax abatement for the Terafab semiconductor facility at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site. SpaceX will pay $10M upfront plus $20M annually for 35 years — clearing a critical regulatory hurdle for the $55B+ second Terafab site.

Grimes County released the executed tax abatement, economic development, and reinvestment-zone documents following the June 3 commissioners' vote — the first public look at the binding legal terms. At release the agreement still awaited SpaceX's countersignature.

Documents filed with Anderson-Shiro CISD and Iola ISD laid out Terafab's four-phase, $119 billion buildout, with Phase 1 alone proposing roughly $10.37 billion in investment. The filings gave the first granular public disclosure of project scope, investment timeline, and employment targets.

The Texas Comptroller's office signed formal recommendations approving all eight Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation (JETI) tax-break applications filed by TeraFab AI, LLC with the two school districts — clearing a major state-level hurdle ahead of the final local school-board votes.

President Trump publicly credited his administration's support for Intel's foundry business, citing Terafab — alongside separate Apple and Nvidia deals — as a key commitment anchoring Intel's manufacturing strategy. The remarks framed Terafab as a centerpiece of the White House's domestic-chip reshoring push.

SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen countersigned the Grimes County tax agreement, fully executing the deal. SpaceX is now legally bound to invest at least $5 billion by 2030 and create 1,800 jobs by 2035, paying $10 million upfront plus $20 million annually in exchange for the property-tax abatement.

Reporting revealed that WIT TECH LLC, a company linked to Elon Musk, had quietly purchased about 2,796 acres in Grimes County — including a pump station on the Navasota River and a parcel of the river itself — one week before the county's tax vote. The water infrastructure is critical to semiconductor manufacturing.