According to Woofun AI, Elon Musk publicly admitted during a live stream on the X platform in Austin that he "doesn't know how to make chips," yet asserted that his company will produce chips in a way that surpasses any competitor, a statement that sets the narrative tone for his challenge to the high barriers of the semiconductor industry.
Elon Musk criticized traditional wafer fabs such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), and Samsung for relying on standardized supplier equipment and spending billions of dollars annually without customized designs.
In contrast, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has accumulated a unique advantage by designing and producing its own equipment through Tesla's German automation division.
According to Woofun AI, Elon Musk believes this experience can elevate chip manufacturing standards, but he openly stated he "doesn't want to appear complacent or arrogant" and estimated it could take "several years."
Traditional chip design takes two years from concept to mass production, while Elon Musk hopes engineers can complete about 10 design projects per year, accelerating technological breakthroughs through rapid iteration.
Elon Musk subsequently posted a recruitment advertisement, inviting world-class chip design or production engineers to join SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) or Tesla, emphasizing the appeal of rapidly optimizing designs and custom equipment.
The plan has already secured funding support. Tesla and SpaceX are building the Terafab chip factory in Grimes County, Texas, through a joint venture with Intel, with an initial investment of up to $15 billion.
The project is expected to create approximately 3,000 jobs and has received $30 million in funding from the Texas Enterprise Fund.
Elon Musk explicitly denied on the X platform the possibility of TSMC owning and operating the factory, insisting that his own team will control operations.
The Terafab project aims to verify whether automotive and rocket manufacturing experience can be applied to semiconductor production.
Currently, advanced chip production is dominated by a small number of foundries such as TSMC, and Elon Musk estimates this test could last for several years.
This marks a critical step for Tesla in extending upstream into the core hardware supply chain, following its ventures in electric vehicles and aerospace, and its success or failure will directly impact the future autonomous and controllable capabilities of intelligent hardware.
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