World's richest man and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on March 22 in Austin, Texas, USA, the official launch of the Terafab project, a joint venture by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. The project aims to build a 2-nanometer wafer fab with the goal of producing 1 terawatt of AI computing power chips annually, primarily for deployment in space to break through the global chip supply bottleneck. Musk stated that the current global annual production of AI computing power is approximately 20 gigawatts, while Terafab's annual production capacity will be 50 times that, with about 80% of the capacity dedicated to space missions. The project will integrate the entire process, including photolithography mask making, chip manufacturing, packaging, and testing, forming a closed-loop production within a single factory area, which is expected to significantly accelerate chip iteration speed. Musk believes that Earth has natural limitations in terms of energy and computing power, while space offers higher solar energy acquisition efficiency and expansion potential. It is anticipated that within 2 to 3 years, the cost of deploying AI computing power in space will be lower than on the ground.
