Elon Musk wrote on X on 7 October 2026 that his companies, not TSMC, will build and run Terafab, the planned Tesla-SpaceX chip complex in Texas: “No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that.” He added that TSMC might sublease part of it, “but nothing more than that.”
Four days earlier he had described talks with TSMC as “Just discussions, but something may come of it.” On 11 October, Bloomberg reported that Musk said Terafab will make chips better than anyone.
On 3 October at 07:51 UTC, replying to a post by @wholemars, Musk wrote: “Just discussions, but something may come of it.” The reply had about 844,000 views when we read it on 11 October.
On 6 October, an account called @herbertong quoted that reply and wrote: “The likeliest deal has TSMC owning and running the fab, with SpaceX investing or committing to buy chips.” The same post said Intel was “already in” and Samsung was “at the table”.
Musk answered that post on 7 October at 06:33 UTC: “No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that. Maybe TSMC subleases part of the Terafab if they want, but nothing more than that.” That reply had about 884,000 views when we read it.
What was said about who runs Terafab between 3 and 11 October 2026: Musk’s own X replies of 3 and 7 October, the post he answered, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan as Reuters reported on 7 October, and Bloomberg’s 11 October headline. Times are UTC.
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The key insight: As we read it, Musk’s two replies draw a line between talking to TSMC and handing it the fab: on 3 October he called the talks “Just discussions”, and on 7 October, answering a post that said TSMC would most likely own and run the plant, he wrote that his companies will build and run it, with TSMC at most subleasing part. The posts we read settle who he says will operate Terafab; they do not give its site, node, cost or schedule.
What Reuters Reported
Reuters, in a report carried by CNA on 7 October, described Terafab as a planned Tesla-SpaceX project in Texas that aims to build “a gigantic chip fab” to make artificial intelligence chips, and reported Musk’s reply as saying his companies will build and run it.
The same report said Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told Bloomberg News earlier that day that Intel, which Reuters describes as a partner in the project, will remain involved. Reuters added that TSMC and Intel did not immediately respond to its requests for comment.
The “Better Than Anyone” Claim
Bloomberg’s headline of 11 October at 01:17 UTC reads: “Musk Says Terafab Plant Will ‘Make Chips Better Than Anyone’”. We did not read the article itself, which is behind a paywall.
Crypto Briefing, summarising the Bloomberg report, wrote that Musk said his companies can likely improve chip quality better than anyone else, thanks to equipment they build themselves.
TeslaNorth reports that Musk spoke by video at the X Takeover fan event at Giga Texas on Saturday 10 October, in an interview livestreamed on X, and that a full official transcript of that interview is not public. The articles we read do not say whether the chip remark came from that interview.
The Structural Read
Musk’s 7 October reply answered a specific claim: @herbertong had written that “The likeliest deal has TSMC owning and running the fab, with SpaceX investing or committing to buy chips.” Musk’s answer rejected that arrangement and named a sublease as the most TSMC could have.
Reuters reported the same day that Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told Bloomberg News that Intel, which Reuters calls a partner in the project, will remain involved. The Reuters text we read does not say what Intel’s role is.
As we read it, the 11 October claim that Terafab will make chips better than anyone is a statement about manufacturing capability; Crypto Briefing’s summary of Bloomberg ties it to equipment Musk’s companies build themselves. We did not read Bloomberg’s article.
“No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that.”
Three Implications
TSMC Musk wrote that TSMC might sublease part of Terafab “if they want, but nothing more than that.” Reuters reported that TSMC did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
INTEL Reuters reported that Intel’s CEO told Bloomberg News Intel will remain involved in the project; the report we read does not describe Intel’s role.
TESLA AND SPACEX Musk’s posts say his companies will build and run the fab; they do not give a site, process node, capital cost or production date.
The analysis puts it this way: “The May 2026 Map of AI argued that the seven-layer AI stack is now governed from the bottom — energy, silicon, compute capacity.”
As we read it, Terafab is an attempt by Musk’s companies to own the silicon layer of that stack rather than buy it, and his 7 October reply is about who controls that layer: his companies run the fab, and an outside foundry gets a sublease at most.
What Musk’s 3 and 7 October posts and Reuters’ 7 October report establish about Terafab, and what they leave open: Musk’s posts do not give a site, size, capital cost, process node or production dates, or the terms of any TSMC sublease, and the Reuters report we read does not describe Intel’s specific role.
What Is Not Established
As read on 11 October 2026: Musk’s posts do not give Terafab’s site, size, process node, capital cost or production dates, or the terms of any TSMC sublease. The Reuters report we read does not describe Intel’s specific role.
We could not read the Bloomberg article behind the “better than anyone” headline, so its full context, and any figures in it, are not reflected here.
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Musk wrote on X on 7 October 2026 that his companies will build and run Terafab, with TSMC at most subleasing part of it, after calling talks with TSMC “Just discussions” on 3 October. Reuters reported that Intel’s CEO said Intel will remain involved, and Bloomberg reported on 11 October that Musk said Terafab will make chips better than anyone.
A note on sourcing. We read Musk’s X posts of 3 and 7 October 2026 and the posts he replied to in full on 11 October 2026, along with Reuters’ 7 October report as carried by CNA, Crypto Briefing’s summary of Bloomberg and TeslaNorth’s account of the X Takeover interview. We read only the headline of Bloomberg’s 11 October article. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s remark is as Reuters reported it. Nothing here is a forecast, and nothing here is financial or investment advice.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur, HackerNoon and Search Engine People. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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