TSMC reportedly sent teams to assess possible Texas sites and discussed whether it could use manufacturing capacity associated with Terafab, according to remarks Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei made on the company’s October 15 earnings call. The discussions were exploratory; as of October 22, TSMC had announced no site selection or agreement with Terafab.
What TSMC discussed in Texas
The reported talks concerned whether TSMC could use manufacturing capacity associated with Terafab. A possible role of that kind would not, by itself, mean TSMC had replaced Intel.
The operating question
The reported positions differ. On October 7, Elon Musk reportedly said TSMC might sublease part of Terafab, with no wider role. Wei’s reported position on October 15 was that a factory developed through cooperation would need to be operated by TSMC. On October 20, Musk described Terafab as intending to operate independently.
A sublease could coexist with Terafab operating independently. A factory developed through cooperation raises a separate question: who would run it?
What Terafab is planned to produce
SpaceX announced Terafab as a planned complex in Grimes County, Texas, intended to manufacture, package and test advanced logic and memory devices. The announcement describes the project’s planned scope, not a facility already producing chips.
Fab construction and Terafab’s production target
In an October 4 report, TaiwanPlus News described the talks as early-stage and attributed a general estimate to Wei: building a new wafer fab, or chip factory, takes two to three years, followed by another one to two years to ramp up production capacity.
Musk separately described Q3 2028 as an uncertain target for Terafab’s volume production. NeoTeo covered that reported production target earlier.
