Foreign Media: Musk Announces Plan to Build Mega Chip Factory, Targeting Production of 100-200 Billion 2-Nanometer Chips Annually

Source: Global Times

【Special Correspondent Wang Pinzhu】Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently announced plans to build a “Terafab” chip factory, drawing widespread attention. “Either we build Terafab, or we have no chips,” Musk said at a demonstration event last Saturday. Currently, global chip production can only meet a small portion of his company’s future needs. Musk also stated on social media that the chip factory will eventually produce 1 terawatt of computing power annually, while the total U.S. output is only 0.5 terawat. Reports indicate that Terafab aims to manufacture 10 to 20 billion advanced 2-nanometer chips each year.

After Musk announced this super chip factory plan, it immediately attracted strong external attention. Bloomberg bluntly noted that Musk has no background in chip manufacturing and has previously exaggerated goals and project progress. Moreover, building a chip factory requires huge investments, procurement of advanced equipment from multiple suppliers, and several years from construction to full operation.

The U.S. “Business Insider” website commented that Musk is accustomed to tackling the world’s most difficult engineering challenges with Tesla and SpaceX, often proving skeptics wrong. However, a super chip factory is an extremely difficult goal for Musk—perhaps even a “half-impossible” one. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said, “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of success, but I think a super chip factory is actually more difficult than launching rockets to Mars.” Rasgon specifically pointed out the difficulties in procuring chip manufacturing equipment. He noted that Musk would need to purchase equipment from ASML in the Netherlands, but as a new customer, it might take two years to receive the equipment. Rasgon also warned that chip manufacturing requires specialized talent, and the industry is already facing a talent shortage. Additionally, Tesla plans to integrate chip manufacturing and packaging in one factory, but typically, chip fabrication and packaging involve completely different processes, and integration would make large-scale production even more complex.

It is worth noting that many AI company executives are concerned about shortages of chips—especially memory chips—but few are willing to attempt production due to numerous operational difficulties. For example, TSMC’s chip factory project in Arizona has faced years of delays, with total costs reaching up to $165 billion.