インテルがイーロン・マスクの250億ドル規模チップ製造計画に参加

2 Min ReadIntel is teaming up with Elon Musk on his new megaproject to produce Terafab AI chips. Terafab is Musk’s ambitious plan to construct a semiconductor factory in Texas, which would churn out chips for his companies SpaceX and xAI (which were merged in February), and Tesla.Now Intel is on board, too. The chip vendor’s participation was revealed in a brief corporate post on X on April 7.The goal of Terafab, a project that is likely to cost in the region of $25 billion, is to help address the ever-increasing demand for computing power by ramping up production of chips.In Terafab’s case, that means mass production of semiconductors for self-driving Teslas and humanoid robots, plus a second type that would be deployed in SpaceX satellites.But it is the scale of the ambition that is eye-popping, with Musk posting on X in March that the goal is a “trillion watts of compute/year.”While Musk is no stranger to big claims and predictions, his intent for Terafab has been widely interpreted as wildly ambitious, given that chip production on this scale is massively time-consuming and expensive -- and that neither SpaceX, xAI, nor Tesla has experience in this field, despite their success in other areas.Related:The Real AI Shift Isn’t New Models. It’s Control.Now, though, the picture is becoming a little clearer, in that it would appear that far from SpaceX and Tesla producing the chips -- as Musk hinted at when presenting his vision when unveiling the project at the Seaholm powerplant in Austin earlier this year -- it will be Intel that is actually responsible.Whether Intel can produce the project’s goal of 200 billion chips a year remains to be seen, but the partnership will be a welcome one for Intel, which has long been seeking marquee customers after a difficult period financially that triggered significant job losses.“Intel is proud to be a partner and work closely with Elon on this highly strategic project,” Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan said on X.About the AuthorContributing WriterGraham Hope has worked in automotive journalism in the U.K. for 26 years, including spells as editor of leading consumer news website and weekly Auto Express and respected buying guide CarBuyer.