Elon Musk’s $25 billion TerraFab project is getting help from Intel

Elon Musk is based in Texas Terafab artificial intelligence chip production project It has a new partner in one of the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturers. Intel said Tuesday It is signing up to help design and build chip production hardware for the $25 billion project backed by Musk’s SpaceX, xAI and Tesla.

The semiconductor technology that TerraFab is set to mass produce is essential for many of the products the billionaire has promised, including Self-driving cars, Humanoid robots And sprawling Artificial intelligence data centers.

Building chip manufacturing plants, or factories, is no simple task. For years, American companies have relied on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Which produces 90% of the world’s advanced computer chipsto create the chips that power our electronics.

But as the AI ​​industry demands more and more computing power, American companies are scrambling to control chip production. Musk’s TerraFab facility isn’t the only domestic investment in AI chips. For example, Nvidia and TSMC partnered to… Manufacture of chips and supercomputers in Arizona.

Intel CEO Lip Bo Tan Written on Xpreviously tweeted that the partnership is “exactly what is needed in semiconductor manufacturing today.”

“Teravab represents a step change in how silicon logic, memory and packaging are built in the future,” Tan wrote.

Intel said it aims To produce enough chips to provide one terawatt of computing power per year once the facility is up and running. This is in line with Musk’s claim when he said Initially announced plans for TerraFab facility.

Despite its public commitment to Musk’s Terafab, Intel is still dealing with its own struggles in the AI ​​chip business. The American semiconductor giant has I experienced delays It brought two of the plants into operation on its Ohio One campus despite receiving significant government subsidies. While the company mentioned previously Production of the AI ​​chips will begin in 2025, and the first factory is now scheduled to be completed in 2030 and begin operations in 2031. The second factory is expected to be completed in 2031 and begin operations in 2032. Intel’s total spending on these facilities It reached $5.26 billion.

And the company too Build two fab in arizonacompeting with more than 70 other semiconductor producers looking to establish a foothold in the state.

Musk and his companies also have a history of announcing things with high expectations that never happen or take much longer. to remember Hyperloop? So it remains to be seen whether TerraFab’s eventual reality will live up to the hype we are seeing today.

Representatives for Intel, Tesla and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.