Tesla and SpaceX bet big on world’s largest building

A semiconductor factory so large it would break every record on the books. Tesla and SpaceX have unveiled Terafab, a $16.7 billion facility in Texas designed to meet their surging demand for chips.

Tesla and SpaceX have unveiled plans for Terafab, a semiconductor factory in Texas that the companies say could become the world’s largest building. The first phase carries a price tag of $16.7 billion and will consolidate manufacturing, packaging and testing of advanced logic and memory chips under one roof.

The planned facility spans 100 million square feet, roughly 3.3 million square feet more than the current record holder, the AvtoVAZ plant in Tolyatti, Russia. The site is expected to employ around 3,000 people.

The goal is to meet the future chip demands of SpaceX and Tesla, which the companies say are predicted to exceed the current global supply.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott welcomed the announcement.

“Texas is where big ideas grow even bigger. Terafab will accelerate chip production at an unprecedented scale and create thousands of good-paying jobs,” he said.

No contractor has been named and future phases remain unpriced.

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