The path to that date runs through Austin first: SpaceX plans to make its first experimental test chip at a research fabrication facility there around Q2 2027. Terafab itself is a planned multi-billion-dollar, vertically integrated factory aiming to produce one terawatt of AI computing power per year, fabricating logic, memory and advanced packaging in one place. It will use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the $400 million machines ASML alone supplies, built around Intel's 14A manufacturing node, which Intel brought to the venture when it joined in April 2026. Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA and Tokyo Electron are among the other named suppliers, and Tesla and SpaceX are reportedly in talks with around ten South Korean equipment makers.

The ambition has sceptics. Musk claimed Terafab's output would be worth more than the GDP of all but 19 countries, but experts have questioned the one-terawatt goal: Gartner estimates total global AI-optimised data centre capacity at roughly 44 gigawatts as of late 2026, a small fraction of Terafab's planned annual output. It also remains unclear whether the expedited deliveries Musk referenced match an unofficial report that Terafab's first EUV tool was slated to arrive in mid-2027.