Musk Sets 2028 Q3 Target for SpaceX-Tesla Terafab Chip Plant, Calls Timeline Highly Challenging

Elon Musk said the Terafab chip manufacturing joint venture between SpaceX and Tesla targets volume production in the third quarter of 2028, but warned the timeline carries a wide margin of error and that output in Q3 or Q4 is merely "one of the possible outcomes." Speaking on SpaceX's earnings call on Tuesday, Musk said the facility in Texas will integrate fabrication, packaging and testing of advanced logic and memory chips at a single campus, serving AI and robotics compute demand at a target of roughly one terawatt per year. Musk said an internal milestone calls for a first SRAM test chip at the Austin R&D site in May or June 2027 to validate the process. Challenges center on equipment, notably ASML's EUV lithography tools plus gear from Applied Materials and KLA. Asked whether EUV systems had been ordered, Musk did not answer directly, saying only that the schedule is very tight. Intel said in April it joined the project. Industry observers remain cautious, noting U.S. advanced logic fabs typically take more than three years from construction to stable output.