"Everything's bigger in Texas": Seems like Elon Musk is taking that old saying to heart. The billionaire entrepreneur on Thursday announced that SpaceX and Tesla will spend nearly $17 billion to build a massive AI chip complex in Grimes County, Texas. The planned 100-million-square-foot Terafab plant will employ at least 3,000 people, Musk said, to produce the cutting-edge chips needed to support SpaceX's orbital data centers and Tesla's Optimus robots. That $16.8 billion is just the start, though — Terafab's total cost could ultimately reach as much as $119 billion.
SpaceX revealed a HUGE new project called Terafab (AI Chip Factory).
The numbers are wild 🫣
And the vibes are out of Sci-Fi 🛸
> Terafab, by the numbers:
• $16.8B - That's just Phase 1. Many Fortune 500 companies aren't worth that much.
• $119B - The estimated cost if the full vision gets built. It would rank among the largest industrial projects ever.
• 100 million sq ft - Around 9 km². Bigger than many airports and large enough to fit multiple Gigafactories inside.
• 1 terawatt of AI compute - The amount of compute Terafab aims to produce every year.
• 3,000+ jobs - Before the project is even fully built out.
• One roof - Chip fabrication, packaging, testing, and manufacturing all in the same campus instead of spread across different facilities.
Terafab Texas will be the largest and most valuable building on Earth by far.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2026
And it will be stunningly beautiful. pic.twitter.com/4NweOqTL7y