Tesla and SpaceX announce $25B 'Terafab' chip factory – it reeks of desperation
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solid_fuel
dangus
If Kamala Harris had been elected, Musk would have been prosecuted by the SEC and potentially be headed to prison.
And this is not me claiming that it would have been a political prosecution, not at all. He just avoided it by hitching his wagon and millions in campaign activities to the most corrupt administration this country has ever seen.
__patchbit__
In house flywheel for rapid capability evaluation on new chip designs make sense. Post scarcity economic future offering free tickets to journey to Saturn is hopeful wishful thinking better than petty squabbles on Earth destroying $22 billion a day using 60 year old fighterjet refuelers having had 7 put out of action.
throwaway81523
Could they have bought Intel if they wanted a captive fab? It seemed ridiculously underpriced.
3eb7988a1663
Musk said 80% of Terafab’s compute output would be directed toward space-based orbital AI satellites, with only 20% for ground-based applications. He argued that solar irradiance in space is roughly 5x greater than at Earth’s surface, and that heat rejection in vacuum makes thermal scaling viable. His conclusion: orbital AI compute could become cheaper than terrestrial alternatives within 2-3 years...
SilverElfin
It feels like a lie. Gigapress, named similarly, was like this. It was just a press made by some other company but they marketed it as Tesla’s unique innovation. They’ll have to buy machines from other companies here too. And for what - destroying the night skies with a million satellites that will ultimately become debris when something goes wrong?
zeristor
The Gigapress was larger than proceeding ones, casting larger parts replacing robots to build those parts. The metallurgy for aluminium alloy was key.
Tesla ordered most of the presses, but I think BYD is using them now too.
I’m guessing the ones used for Cybertrucks aren’t so busy.
iancmceachern
"While associated with Tesla, Idra has supplied these machines to other automakers, including Hyundai, Ford, and Volvo."
I asked gemini
SR2Z
It was built by another company, but for a brand new machine of that size and complexity the launch customer is going to be required to do a ton of work to get it functional. Tesla was the first to try and build a car that way, they made whole cemeteries of failed castings to prove it out, and now the rest of the industry is buying the machines too.
I think that a reasonable person, without knowing the CEO, would call that innovative.
More lies from Musk & co. If we had functional enforcement against white-collar crimes, he would be out of the picture for all the previous lies he has sold to investors. But right now, apparently, we are in a vibes-based economy instead of one based in material reality, so I expect this will drive even more investment.
> Musk said the facility would produce between 100 and 200 billion custom AI and memory chips per year, powering Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” software, the Cybercab robotaxi program, and the Optimus humanoid robot line. He also said millions of Optimus robots would help build and operate the facility.
> powering Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” software
Sold and promised for more than a decade, doesn't exist yet.
> the Cybercab robotaxi program
Sold and promised, doesn't exist yet. Tesla has a bad safety record in their on-street testing.
> Optimus humanoid robot line
Sold and promised, doesn't exist. Last I heard, the demos were being remotely operated by people.
> He also said millions of Optimus robots would help build and operate the facility.
Pure fiction.