Musk’s Terafab push is moving fast, but building a chip fab is still the hard part
Elon Musk’s semiconductor ambition looks very real now. People tied to the new Terafab project are reportedly contacting major fab suppliers for pricing and delivery timelines, with the whole thing being pushed at what one source described as “light speed.”
According to a Bloomberg report cited by Tom’s Hardware, Terafab staff have been asking around for estimates on key chipmaking materials and tools, including photomasks, substrates, and etchers. The companies contacted reportedly include Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Lam Research, and even Samsung Electronics, which is already a manufacturing partner for chips.
One detail says a lot about the pace Musk wants, bro. A source claimed a company was contacted during a Friday holiday and asked to return an estimate by the following Monday. Terafab representatives were also said to be pushing for quick quotes while staying vague about the exact products they plan to build.
That lines up with Musk’s public interest in making his own chips, which only started surfacing in late 2025. The project itself officially launched in March 2026, less than five months later, with Musk putting in $20 billion to get it moving.
Still, the big reality check here is simple: chip fabs are not something you brute-force with cash alone.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has already warned that advanced semiconductor manufacturing is one of the toughest engineering problems in the world. It is not just about putting up a building or buying expensive machines. The process also depends on deep manufacturing knowledge, research, and years of refinement. In short, this is not a startup app where you ship first and fix later.
That same warning is echoed by TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, who said it typically takes two to three years to build a new plant, followed by another one or two years to ramp production properly. His message was very clear: there are no shortcuts.
Even so, Musk does have a track record of charging into industries that looked untouchable. Tesla helped push EVs into the mainstream, and SpaceX made reusable rockets commercially viable. That is probably why the market is taking Terafab seriously, even if the project is still very early.
There is already some spillover effect. Intel, which said in April that it had joined the Terafab effort to help “refactor silicon fab technology” and accelerate the goal of producing 1 terawatt per year of compute, saw investor enthusiasm jump. The exact role Intel will play is still unclear, but the tie-up reportedly helped lift the company to its highest market cap in 25 years. Other suppliers linked to Terafab also got a bump, with Tokyo Electron closing up 5.3% in Tokyo, while Applied Materials and Lam Research were reportedly up 2% in pre-market trading.
For Malaysia and the wider SEA crowd, this matters even if Terafab is still miles away from shipping actual chips. Big moves in the semiconductor space can affect the future supply and pricing of the hardware we care about, from GPUs and AI servers to gaming devices and consumer electronics. If another major fab project really enters the race, it could eventually reshape who controls capacity, who gets priority, and how fast new tech reaches the market here.
But that is the key word, eventually. Right now, Terafab looks more like an aggressive opening move than an immediate production threat. The team may be moving laju, but advanced chip manufacturing does not suddenly become easy just because the founder is willing to pay extra.
For now, the clearest takeaway is this: Musk is serious, suppliers are listening, and the industry is watching closely.
Source: Tom's Hardware
