Musk’s wafer fab Terafab breaks ground—how big could it be?
Ready to take on TSMC: Elon Musk’s Terafab wafer fab has already begun construction. According to a report by (Tom’s Hardware), aerial footage shows that there has been clear progress in under five months, but the video still makes it difficult to capture the real size of the facility.
To that end, Nic Cruz Patane—who focuses on the fields of Tesla and SpaceX—created visual chart analyses to help others understand its massive footprint.
Based on the chart, the Terafab site’s floor area is at least 100 million square feet—exceeding the combined areas of Tesla’s Giga Texas plant (10 million square feet), the U.S. Pentagon (6.6 million square feet), Apple’s headquarters Apple Park (2.82 million square feet), and the U.S. shopping mall Mall of America (5.6 million square feet). It’s also far larger than the 18.9 million square feet of indoor space in China’s Chengdu New Century Global Center.
Source: Nic Cruz Patane Nic Cruz Patane made visual charts and analysis of the footprint of Musk’s wafer fab Terafab
Earlier reports revealed that this facility is expected to become the world’s largest building, not just a simple chip-manufacturing plant, but a vertically integrated site that combines logic and memory chip manufacturing, packaging, and testing into one.
In a press release, SpaceX said that the chips produced by Terafab will be used for Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus, autonomous ride-hailing taxis Cybercab, and SpaceX’s space data centers. The company and Tesla’s combined chip demand could exceed the total global supply.
Terafab is based in Texas and will create more than 3,000 jobs
SpaceX has already announced that Terafab will be built in Grimes County, on the outskirts of Houston, Texas. In a post, Musk said Terafab will be the largest and most valuable building on Earth so far, and that its appearance will be quite beautiful.
In the early stages, SpaceX and Tesla will invest $16.8 billion to build the facility; future expansion may increase the total investment. According to filings made in May this year, SpaceX’s initial proposed investment was $55 billion. If you add the subsequent expansion phase, the total could reach $119 billion, creating at least 3,000 jobs.
Related report: Terafab hiring in Taiwan for openings—targeting TSMC CoWoS talent; if you match California’s starting salary, it’s just NT$2.77 million
Musk said Terafab will bring cutting-edge manufacturing technology to the United States, create many high-paying job opportunities in Texas, and enable the company to mass-produce AI chips for use on both Earth and in space.
This year, before going public, SpaceX already acquired xAI, Musk’s company, focusing on building space data centers, and completed the largest initial public offering in history in June.
Related report: Musk xAI recruits Chinese AI tutors! Pay rate $45 per hour for remote work—requirements and bonus conditions all in one place
Build its own natural gas power plant for power supply; jobs pledged to receive tax and fee relief
SpaceX says it will build its own natural gas power plant to supply electricity to Terafab, rather than using Tesla’s solar方案. Riley Trettel, who is responsible for SpaceX energy and data center development, revealed that the company will generate its own power and pair it with large battery arrays.
Although Tesla itself is also involved in solar power development, SpaceX-related statements did not mention a ground-based solar power supply plan.
Recently, Musk’s companies have generally leaned toward using natural gas. For example, the xAI data center in Memphis relies almost entirely on natural gas, and Musk himself has acquired a company specializing in natural gas power plants.
SpaceX received 100% tax relief from Grimes County because it promised to invest at least $5 billion by 2030 and create at least 1,800 full-time jobs by 2035. The Texas government also provided a $30 million incentive package.
Musk drives major construction; environmental controversies emerge
But as humans go all out on building AI infrastructure, environmental controversies have also emerged. (CNBC) A recent report said local residents and environmental groups accuse xAI’s Memphis AI data center “Colossus” of producing severe noise and running multiple gas turbines without permits, harming community health and quality of life.
Although AI data centers bring huge tax revenue to the local area and secure computing contracts from major enterprises, their lack of transparency and their high water and high energy consumption have sparked widespread resistance. They have become a negative example for AI infrastructure development across the United States, prompting multiple state governments to strengthen regulation and push legislation to protect residents’ rights.
Further reading:
Musk scolded them again as scammers! OpenAI’s Sam Altman fires back: Bro, you’re the one who drew up the “space data center” big dream
“How big is Musk’s wafer fab Terafab?” Analysis: Bigger than the Pentagon + MoA shopping center + the Tesla factory’ — The article was first published in ‘Crypto City’