Robots, autonomous taxis, and orbital data centers require far more computing power than today’s global industry can provide. That is why two of Elon Musk’s companies have decided to build their own facility in Texas. The initial investment has already been announced. It amounts to tens of billions of dollars, while the building itself is expected to become the largest in the world.
Site and Initial Investment
Construction of the Terafab project will begin in Grimes County near Houston, with an initial investment of $16.8 billion from Tesla and SpaceX. The decision was announced on Thursday, TechCrunch reports.
The project is expected to create jobs for at least 3,000 people from Grimes County and neighboring Brazos County. The companies say they intend to recruit specifically from residents of these two counties.
Scale
According to the plans, the production facilities will cover more than 9.3 million square meters. In terms of area, that is roughly equivalent to 1,300 football fields. Elon Musk described the future complex as the largest and most expensive building on Earth.
The entire enterprise is designed around the principle of vertical integration. Manufacturing, packaging, and testing of logic chips and memory devices will all be combined under one roof. SpaceX says this approach will speed up development and allow new computing resources to be brought online more quickly.
Robots, Taxis, and Orbit
The enormous computing capacity is intended for specific products. These include Optimus robots and Cybercab autonomous taxis, for which the facility will manufacture chips optimized for edge computing and inference—that is, the operation of already trained artificial intelligence models.
A separate product line will be dedicated to high-performance chips designed for use in space-based data centers. Orbital spacecraft are expected to serve as platforms for training and deploying artificial intelligence systems.
Partners and Costs
The total cost may prove far higher than the initial amount. SpaceX documents alone referred to $119 billion as part of a multi-stage construction plan.
Intel has confirmed its participation, although the company has described its contribution only in very general terms. During SpaceX’s first earnings conference call this week, the new facility was not mentioned even once.
Local Reaction
Local residents have approached the project cautiously. At a county meeting the day before the announcement, hundreds of people expressed concern over millions of dollars in tax incentives and a lack of transparency.
The companies have separately stated that water for the factory will be drawn from the Gibbons Creek Reservoir rather than from underground sources.
Sarah Borowicz, superintendent of the Anderson-Shiro school district, supported the agreement. According to her, the arrangements will expand opportunities for students, and officials have promised that their implementation will be transparent.
