WASHINGTON – Elon Musk announced on March 21 a groundbreaking initiative to produce AI, robotics, and data center chips in space through a new Texas-based facility called Terafab, positioning it as a joint Tesla-SpaceX venture to meet surging demand.
The Austin “advanced technology fab” targets one terawatt of annual computing power—roughly matching the US’s total electricity generation capacity, encompassing full design, manufacturing, testing, and iteration capabilities. Musk highlighted supply constraints from partners like Samsung, TSMC and Micron: “That rate is much less than we would like… and we need the chips, so we’re going to build the Terafab.”
With no prior semiconductor experience, Musk justified the move as essential for Tesla and SpaceX’s explosive needs, outpacing global suppliers. Initial costs, undisclosed officially, have been estimated by US media between $20-25 billion.
Long-term goals include 100-200 gigawatts of terrestrial computing power and a full terawatt in orbit, accelerating humanity toward a “galactic civilisation” by tapping extraterrestrial resources. Musk offered no specific timelines, consistent with his history of ambitious, accelerated project pledges.