TSMC is exploring a potential collaboration with Terafab, the chip-manufacturing project intended to support Tesla and SpaceX, according to a Culpium report. The Taiwanese foundry could help operate Terafab’s planned Texas fabs, while the project is also being considered as a possible anchor customer for a future TSMC facility in the state. No agreement has been announced.
Intel formally joined Terafab in April, bringing experience across chip design, manufacturing and packaging. Reuters reported at the time that the project is targeting up to 1 TW of annual computing capacity for robots, autonomous vehicles and AI infrastructure used by Musk’s companies.
Tesla and SpaceX announced an initial US$16.8 billion investment in the Grimes County, Texas complex in August. The planned site would span roughly 100 million square feet and combine several stages of chip production under one roof:
- Fabrication of logic chips and memory
- Chip packaging
- Chip testing
The reported TSMC discussions would not necessarily displace Intel. During an April earnings call, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said Tesla remained a TSMC customer, while describing Intel as both a customer and a competitor. Wei also noted that building a fab typically takes two to three years, followed by another one to two years to reach stable production.
That timeline illustrates the challenge facing Terafab’s vertical-integration ambitions. TSMC’s possible role could range from operational know-how to chip capacity or an anchor-customer arrangement, but the eventual structure remains unclear while the discussions are still exploratory.
