Musk Confesses Zero Chip Clue, Promises World-Beating Silicon Anyway 🤖

Elon Musk publicly acknowledged he has no expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, then asserted his companies would eventually build chips better than any established producer. Speaking via livestream at Saturday's X Takeover event in Austin, Musk credited the custom factory equipment already developed across his businesses for the anticipated edge. The comment was directed at one of the most capital-intensive and technically entrenched industries in the world, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and rivals have spent decades refining their processes and tens of billions of dollars annually on advanced fabs.

Musk pointed to Tesla's experience designing much of its own production machinery, including through its Tesla Automation Germany unit, as evidence the know-how can transfer. He described his tours of Intel, Samsung, and TSMC fabs, noting the machines came largely from the same vendors with limited customization. "I don't know how to make chips, to be clear. I have no idea how to make chips. But we'll figure it out… I had no idea how to make cars or rockets as well," Musk said. He added, "I don't want to be complacent or entitled or anything, but, I think probably we'll figure out how to make chips better than anyone. Honestly. I don't know how long it's going to take us to do that. It might take us quite a few years."

The central target is iteration speed. Musk said a typical advanced chip design takes about two years to move from first draft to volume production, a pace already considered fast by industry standards. He wants his engineers working through roughly 10 designs a year instead, accepting that some attempts will fail. A day after the livestream, Musk turned the pitch into a recruiting post on X, writing, "If you're a world-class chip design or production engineer, consider joining SpaceX or Tesla. How cool would it be to iterate on designs and customize production machines at lightning speed?"

The strategy is being backed with capital. Tesla and SpaceX are jointly building the Terafab chip plant in Grimes County, Texas, through a venture with Intel, with an initial investment topping $15 billion. The project is expected to create about 3,000 jobs and receive a $30 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, a state incentive program. Musk has also said he wants his companies to own and operate the site themselves, dismissing suggestions that TSMC would run the fab. Advanced chip production currently sits with a handful of foundries led by TSMC, and by Musk's own estimate the Terafab experiment could take several years to prove out.