Tesla selects Intel's 14A foundry for upcoming chips

Tesla said April 22 that it plans to use Intel’s 14A chipmaking process for chips in its proposed Terafab artificial-intelligence complex in Austin. (finance.yahoo.com) Elon Musk disclosed the plan on Tesla’s earnings call, saying Intel would supply “some of the core manufacturing technologies” for Terafab. Reuters reported Intel declined to comment on Musk’s remarks. (finance.yahoo.com) For Intel, the customer name is the point: Reuters described Tesla as the first major external customer disclosed for Intel’s 14A node. Intel has said it was already in talks with large customers about 14A. (finance.yahoo.com) A foundry is a chip factory for hire. Instead of designing and building every chip itself, a company like Tesla can design a processor and pay a specialist manufacturer to produce it at scale. (finance.yahoo.com) Intel’s current leading foundry pitch centers on RibbonFET transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery, two technologies it says improve density, routing, and performance per watt on advanced nodes. Intel says 18A is ready for customer projects and places 14A in the same angstrom-era family. (intel.com 1) (intel.com 2) (intel.com 3) Terafab is Musk’s idea for a giant chip complex tied to Tesla’s artificial-intelligence, robotics, and data-center ambitions. Reuters reported Intel joined the project earlier in April alongside Tesla and SpaceX. (finance.yahoo.com) The economics are still unsettled. Reuters said analysts estimate the chip infrastructure required at Terafab scale could demand between $5 trillion and $13 trillion in capital spending, with key questions still open on equipment funding, operations, and start dates. (finance.yahoo.com) Markets treated the announcement as an Intel positive and a Tesla cost signal. Reuters reported Intel shares rose 3.6% in extended trading, while Tesla stock slipped slightly after hours after Musk said the carmaker would sharply increase capital spending. (finance.yahoo.com) Intel has tied its foundry push to a broader turnaround against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the dominant contract chipmaker. Reuters reported Lip-Bu Tan has said Intel would leave chip manufacturing if it failed to win an outside customer. (finance.yahoo.com) That leaves the Tesla disclosure as both a customer win and a test of execution. Intel now has a public buyer attached to 14A; Terafab still has to become a working factory plan. (finance.yahoo.com)