Musk Claims ASML Is Rushing Terafab Equipment to Hit 2028 Chip Production Target

Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that key semiconductor equipment providers, including ASML, are accelerating deliveries for the Terafab megaproject. The update came during a live broadcast of SpaceX’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call on X. Musk stated that these expedited shipments are critical to supporting the aggressive timeline for the joint venture between Tesla and SpaceX, which aims to build a vertically integrated chip manufacturing facility in Texas.

The primary target for volume chip production at the Gibbons Creek, Texas, site is set for the third or fourth quarter of 2028. Musk characterized this schedule as "highly aspirational" and noted that it carries "big error bars." He expressed appreciation to ASML and other suppliers for moving faster to meet these ambitious dates. While the main facility is slated for 2028, SpaceX plans to produce its first experimental test chip at its Austin, Texas, research fabrication facility around the second quarter of 2027.

Musk also outlined significant near-term goals for his AI operations during the same broadcast. He expects his companies to have between 2.5 and 3 gigawatts of computing capacity operational by the end of this year. Looking ahead, he expressed high confidence in bringing an additional 10 gigawatts online in 2027, stating he would be surprised if the total did not reach 13 gigawatts by the end of next year. This trajectory positions his AI infrastructure ahead of other major projects, such as the restructured 10-gigawatt Project Stargate and Meta’s 5-gigawatt Hyperion, both of which are not expected to reach full capacity until the 2030s.

To achieve these compute milestones, SpaceX and xAI are aggressively procuring next-generation hardware from NVIDIA. Musk revealed plans to bring a 440,000-GPU Nvidia "Vera Rubin" training cluster online by the end of the second quarter of 2027. This massive expansion is part of a broader strategy to secure internal chip supply, reducing reliance on external foundries like TSMC for the advanced processors powering xAI clusters, self-driving vehicles, Optimus robots, and SpaceX’s orbital data centers.

The Terafab project is designed to be a multi-billion-dollar, vertically integrated factory capable of manufacturing one terawatt of AI computing power annually. It will handle logic, memory, and advanced packaging internally. Once fully operational, Musk claims the commercial value of the facility’s output would rival the GDP of the 20th-largest country in the world, with Switzerland currently holding that spot at approximately $1.14 trillion. The facility will utilize extreme ultraviolet lithography systems built on Intel’s 14A manufacturing node technology.

Intel joined the venture in April 2026 to co-develop and refactor silicon fabrication technology, providing access to its 14A process. ASML, the sole commercial supplier of the $400 million EUV lithography systems required for leading-edge production, is considered the most critical partner. Unofficial sources previously indicated that Terafab’s first EUV tool was slated for delivery in mid-2027, though it remains unclear if this aligns with the expedited timeline Musk referenced in his announcement.

Beyond ASML and Intel, the supply chain includes major American equipment manufacturers such as Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA Corporation, along with Japan’s Tokyo Electron. These firms will provide front-end processing, metrology, and process control machinery. Tesla and SpaceX are also in negotiations with approximately 10 South Korean equipment makers, including Hanmi Semiconductor and HPSP, for advanced packaging and specialized components. Despite these efforts, the sheer scale of Terafab’s one-terawatt ambition has drawn scrutiny from experts, who note that global AI-optimized data center capacity is currently estimated at only 44 gigawatts, a fraction of the facility's projected output.