by TeslaUS
Make enough AI chips in-house for Tesla's cars and Optimus robots and for SpaceX's planned orbital data centres, aiming at 1 terawatt of compute a year, more than Musk says today's chip suppliers can deliver.
Grimes County site work began Aug 2026; limited operations targeted for late 2027.
Updated 6 Aug 2026Checked 11 Oct0 updates this week
Logic, memory, testing and packaging sit together, so chips need not be shipped between plants in different countries.
One line targets inference chips for Tesla vehicles and Optimus; the other, space-hardened chips for SpaceX's orbital AI satellites.
Intel brings its leading-edge process and advanced packaging, so the venture does not have to invent chipmaking from scratch.
A ~$3B line at Giga Texas, a few thousand wafers a month, is for testing and prototypes before volume moves to Grimes County.
| Spec | Terafab |
|---|---|
| First-phase investment | $16.8BR (reported) |
| Investment if all phases built | Up to $119BR (reported) |
| Planned manufacturing space | 100M sq ftR (reported) |
| Jobs (first phase) | 3,000R (reported) |
| Giga Texas research fab | ~$3B, a few thousand wafers/monthR (reported) |
| Compute goal | 1 TW of chips a year, ~80% for spaceR (reported) |
R reported by the company
Tesla
EVs, FSD, Robotaxi, Cybercab, Optimus
Tesla makes electric cars and batteries and is betting on self-driving: camera-only Full Self-Driving software, a Robotaxi service with no safety monitors in several Texas and Florida cities, the two-seat Cybercab, and the Optimus humanoid robot.
