Tesla confirms Intel 14A for Terafab
- Intel said on April 7 it is joining Tesla, SpaceX and xAI’s Terafab project in Austin, confirming Intel Foundry as the manufacturing partner. - Tesla’s own filings say AI5 and AI6 chips are slated for 2027 and 2028, while Terafab targets 1 terawatt of compute per year. - The plan extends Tesla’s multi-foundry chip strategy after its $16.5 billion Samsung AI6 deal in Texas. (cnbc.com)
A chip fab is the factory that turns silicon wafers into processors, and Tesla’s new Texas project now has a confirmed manufacturing partner: Intel. (electrek.co) (intel.com) Intel said on April 7 that it is joining the Terafab project with Tesla, SpaceX and xAI to help build a facility aimed at producing 1 terawatt of compute per year. (electrek.co) Intel’s foundry roadmap lists Intel 14A as a leading-edge process available for customer engagement, and Intel showed a 14A wafer publicly at Foundry Direct Connect on April 29, 2025. (intel.com 1) (intel.com 2) Tesla has not published a standalone press release saying “Terafab will use Intel 14A,” but the available evidence points to Intel Foundry providing the process technology behind the project. That is an inference from Intel’s participation, Intel’s 14A roadmap, and Tesla’s Terafab hiring. (electrek.co) (intel.com) (tesla.com) Terafab matters because Tesla is designing more of its own artificial-intelligence chips for cars, robotaxis and humanoid robots instead of relying only on off-the-shelf processors. Tesla says AI5 and AI6 inference chips remain on track for production in 2027 and 2028. (tesla.com) (assets-ir.tesla.com) Tesla’s Texas hiring adds detail to that plan. Multiple Terafab job postings in Austin seek engineers for lithography, etch, deposition, implant and polish, which are core chipmaking steps inside a wafer fab. (tesla.com 1) (tesla.com 2) The project also fits a broader supplier split. Musk said in July 2025 that Samsung’s Taylor, Texas, plant would make Tesla’s AI6 chip under a $16.5 billion contract running through December 31, 2033. (cnbc.com) (techcrunch.com) Reuters reported at the time, via republished coverage, that Tesla’s AI5 chip was set for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. production first in Taiwan and later in Arizona, while Samsung was already making AI4. (fastcompany.com) (trendforce.com) Intel has pitched 14A as the step after 18A, with expected gains in performance, density and power efficiency for advanced chips. Those are the traits Tesla needs if it wants more computing power inside vehicles and in training systems without proportionally higher energy use. (community.intel.com) (intel.com) The open question is not whether Tesla wants more chip capacity in Texas; its filings, hiring and supplier deals already show that. The open question is how much of Terafab becomes a true Tesla-run manufacturing operation versus Intel-led foundry capacity reserved for Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. (assets-ir.tesla.com) (electrek.co)
