Elon Musk Announces Construction Of TerraFab At AI Chip Manufacturing Plant 'Will It Realize Its Self-Driving Ambition'

*This content was translated by AI.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the construction of "Terafab," a large-scale semiconductor factory project to manufacture artificial intelligence (AI) chips, will begin within 7 days. On Saturday, the 14th local time, Musk announced that he had made the decision to produce fifth-generation AI chips that would support his self-driving ambitions. The move materialized about a year after Tesla mentioned at its annual shareholders' meeting last year that it would likely have to build its own giant semiconductor fab to meet demand in the artificial intelligence sector.

Tesla is currently designing its own AI chip to run its self-driving system and its driving assistance software, Full Self-Driving (FSD). Musk determined that even assuming the best-case scenario for chip production, which can be secured from suppliers, it is not enough to meet the huge volume Tesla needs. Accordingly, the only solution is to build Terra Fab beyond the Gigafactory.

TerraFab is planned to be a facility with a production capacity of more than 100,000 wafers per month, a level that could put Tesla in the ranks of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer. Through this, Tesla is seeking to transform itself into a vertically integrated comprehensive semiconductor company (IDM), which directly performs chip design to manufacturing. The change is likely to give Tesla strong control not only over vehicles but also across the AI hardware supply chain for humanoid robots "Optimus" and data centers.

Musk previously mentioned that he has continued to cooperate with existing semiconductor partners such as Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics, and that he also leaves open the possibility of cooperation with Intel. Tesla, in particular, has been strengthening its partnership by signing a chip supply contract worth about $16.5 billion with Samsung Electronics, but has decided to build its own production facilities in parallel to meet the rapidly increasing demand for AI operations.

The project is seen as a strategic choice to solidify Tesla's identity as an AI technology company beyond its simple role as an automobile manufacturer. Tesla already operates one of the largest AI supercomputing clusters in the global automotive industry, and expects the fifth-generation AI chips produced through TerraFab to be key drivers for future autonomous vehicles and robotics technologies.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.