Terafab Research Fab

Tesla with Intel · research fab · Giga Texas North Campus, Travis County

The pilot line where Tesla develops the process for AI6, AI7 and later chips, on the same campus as the robots, vehicles and training clusters they run. Recipes proven here move to volume at Gibbons Creek.

  • Terafab Research Fab
  • Other Giga Texas programs
Schematic of the Giga Texas campus, not to scale: the main factory, cell and cathode lines, Cortex 1 and 2, the Optimus Factory, the Terafab Research Fab, RFTX and the Cybercab test track COLORADO RIVER SH 130 SCHEMATIC, NOT TO SCALE Giga Texas main factory: Model Y, Model Y L, Cybertruck and CybercabMAIN FACTORY 30 MW ROOFTOP SOLAR Tesla 4680 cell line4680 CELLS Cathode plant for 4680 cells, operating at scale since August 2026CATHODE PLANT Roadster Factory Texas, with a looping vertical trackRFTX Roadster looping vertical track LOOP Optimus Factory, building Optimus 4OPTIMUS FACTORY Cortex 1 AI training clusterCORTEX 1 Cortex 2 AI training clusterCORTEX 2 Megapack and switchyard beside Cortex 2, toward about 250 grid-buffer units MEGAPACK YARD Terafab Research Fab, a joint Tesla and SpaceX fab on the east side of the campusTERAFAB RESEARCH FAB TESLA + SPACEX Cybercab test track, a multi-lane asphalt oval CYBERCAB TEST OVAL Oncor Giga TX substation, 138 kV and upONCOR
Cleanroom
~2M sq ft
Tesla initial
$3B
Equipped cost
$25-30B est.
Output
Development scale
Completion filed
Dec 2029
Sector
Fabs and semiconductor

Overview

Tesla's Pilot Line for Terafab

The Terafab Research Fab is Tesla's chip development line on the Giga Texas North Campus in Travis County, the pilot fab for Terafab, the chip venture of Tesla, SpaceX and SpaceXSI with Intel as foundry partner. Tesla broke ground on April 22, 2026 with $3B. It runs a few thousand wafer starts a month: enough to develop and qualify process recipes for AI6, AI7 and later chips, which then move to volume at Terafab Gibbons Creek in Grimes County.

It is the fab of the Texas Industrial Triad at Giga Texas: gigafactory, fab and data center on one campus. Tesla designs the chip, develops its process, builds the robot or vehicle that carries it and trains the software that runs on it at one address.

One program, two fabs
Research FabProduction Fab
WhereGiga Texas North Campus, Travis CountyGibbons Creek Reservoir, Grimes County
OperatorTesla, with Intel as foundry partnerSpaceX (TeraFab AI, LLC)
ScaleAbout 2M sq ft of cleanroom; a few thousand wafer starts a monthAbout 100M sq ft, 2.5 miles long; 100,000 to 1 million wafer starts a month at full scale
JobDevelop and qualify process recipes for AI6, AI7 and later chipsVolume logic, memory, advanced packaging and test under one roof
Capital$3B Tesla initial; $25-30B equipped (AustinIO estimate)$16.8B first phase; up to $119B in four phases
StatusSteel erection since October 2026Site clearing since August 2026; limited operations targeted for late 2027

Why a research fab

Every Leading Chipmaker Runs One

Each recipe iteration at sub-2nm takes weeks of wafer time and a full set of EUV and metrology tools. A volume foundry cannot pull its lines out of revenue production to run experiments, so chipmakers develop new nodes on dedicated research lines and transfer validated recipes to volume fabs.

Research fabs of the leading chipmakers
OperatorResearch fabLocation
TSMCFab 12Hsinchu, Taiwan
IntelD1XHillsboro, Oregon
SamsungS1Giheung, South Korea
Tesla and IntelTerafab Research FabGiga Texas North Campus, Austin

Intel's role

Tools and Fab Know-How

Tools. Leading-edge equipment is allocated through multi-year queues, and ASML has historically put new fab customers through years of readiness review before shipping EUV. Intel has EUV installed in Arizona and Oregon and a place in the High-NA queue. Musk said on July 22, 2026 that equipment orders were placed; suppliers were not named.

Know-how. Tesla has not run a leading-edge fab. Process integration, yield ramp, contamination control, statistical process control and tool qualification take fab operators decades to build; AustinIO expects Intel engineers and Intel recipes to supply them. The line is expected to start on Intel 18A, with 14A named for Terafab.

The chips

AI5, AI6 and AI7

Tesla AI chips and where each is made
ChipForOptimized forManufacturing pathStatus
AI5Vehicle inference (HW5)Peak throughput at data-center-class powerSamsung TaylorTSMC ArizonaDesign complete April 2026; volume hoped for mid-2027
AI6Cybercab and OptimusEfficiency per watt in a small thermal budgetResearch FabGibbons CreekProcess development here
AI7SpaceX orbital computeRadiation tolerance for continuous AI in low Earth orbitResearch FabGibbons CreekBastrop packagingProcess changes no outside foundry offers one customer

AI5 is finished and goes to Samsung Taylor and TSMC Arizona. The Research Fab works on what comes after: AI6 trades AI5's peak throughput for efficiency per watt for Cybercab and Optimus, and AI7 needs radiation-hardened cell libraries, error-correcting memory, triple-redundant control paths and dose-tolerant process settings for orbit. Tesla designs each chip together with its process variant rather than working from a foundry's fixed design kit.

Capital

$3B Down, $25-30B to Equip

Tesla initial commitment: $3B. Musk, April 22, 2026Tesla initial commitment$3B Equipment at research scale: $8-12B. AustinIO estimate: 15 to 20 EUV systems plus the process tool setEquipment at research scale$8-12B Musk at the March unveiling: $20-25B. Musk, March 2026, before the Grimes County siteMusk at the March unveiling$20-25B Equipped research fab: $25-30B. AustinIO estimate from TSMC, Intel and Samsung comparablesEquipped research fab$25-30B

Announced   Range or estimate

Three to five EUV scanners at $200-350M each would use most of Tesla's $3B before any deposition, etch, metrology or facilities cost; Intel's capital and tools cover much of the gap. At the far end, Bernstein puts Musk's 1 TW a year of AI compute at $5-13 trillion, 20 to 65 years of worldwide chip capital spending.

Timeline

Announcement to Steel in Six Months

Show
  1. November 2025Musk first proposes Terafab at the Tesla shareholder meeting
  2. March 2026Tesla files the 5.2M sq ft North Campus expansion with Travis County
  3. March 21, 2026Musk unveils Terafab in Austin
  4. April 7, 2026Intel joins as foundry partner
  5. April 13, 2026Drone footage shows earthwork, the River Road extension and drainage
  6. April 22, 2026Groundbreaking and a $3B Tesla commitment; Musk names Intel 14A
  7. July 7, 2026Lars Moravy confirms the North Campus buildout
  8. July 22, 2026Musk says equipment orders are placed for the Austin development fab
  9. August 7, 2026Foundation and GeoPier columns for the fab's support facility
  10. August 25, 2026"North Campus Manufacturing" semiconductor plant registered with TDLR
  11. October 1, 2026First steel columns and seven cranes; vertical construction begins
  12. Mid-2028Earliest first output, per Morgan Stanley
  13. December 31, 2029Scheduled completion in the TDLR filing

Site work started less than five weeks after the March unveiling, so planning began well before. Tesla's earlier targets called for tools in the third quarter of 2026 and first silicon in early 2027; in October 2026 the building was at steel erection.

On the campus

What a Fab Asks of Giga Texas

Semiconductor-grade ultrapure water, an estimated 350-700 million gallons a year on a campus that used 556 million in 2025; EUV-grade power quality through ERCOT; vibration isolation from the vehicle factory next door; and process engineers from Samsung Austin, Samsung Taylor and NXP.

The fab closes a loop already running on the campus: AI6 developed here goes into Optimus built at the Optimus Factory; Optimus in service generates data; that data trains models on Cortex 2; models return to robots and vehicles over the air. Radiation-tolerant variants go to SpaceX packaging at Bastrop.

Record

Dataset Record

Sources
Tesla Q1 and Q2 2026 earnings calls and Form 8-K; Travis County and TDLR filings; Intel statement of April 7, 2026; site footage through October 2026
Capital
Announced figures solid; AustinIO estimates and ranges hatched
Campus map
Schematic, not to scale
Last verified
Q4 2026