Exclusive: Intel Tells Staff It Will Disclose Scope Of Work With Elon Musk In ‘Coming Weeks’

‘[Elon Musk’s] expansive vision across AI, transportation, communications, robotics and space travel relies heavily on an ample and uninterrupted supply of silicon chips. Intel is thus a natural partner to help him realize his vision,’ Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan tells staff in a memo.

Intel plans to disclose to staff the “scope and nature” of its involvement with Elon Musk’s ambitious “Terafab” chip manufacturing project in the “coming weeks,” according to a memo its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, sent last week.

Tan sent the memo, which was seen by CRN, to Intel employees last Friday, two days after the semiconductor giant announced its involvement with Musk’s companies—SpaceX, xAI and Tesla—on Terafab, a potential boon to Intel amid its latest turnaround attempt.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has released very few details about its participation in the Terafab project, for which there is also limited information.

Tan said the collaboration on Terafab represented a “strategic alliance” between Intel and Musk’s companies in his Friday memo.

“His expansive vision across AI, transportation, communications, robotics and space travel relies heavily on an ample and uninterrupted supply of silicon chips,” he wrote. “Intel is thus a natural partner to help him realize his vision.”

An Intel spokesperson declined to comment.

What Is Terafab, Elon Musk’s Latest Initiative?

Musk announced Terafab last month, saying that it would start with two advanced chip fabrication plants in Austin, Texas. The first would be focused on chips for cars and humanoid robotics, and the second on chips for AI data centers in space.

The Tesla and SpaceX leader said he is pursuing the project because he expects his companies in the future to require magnitudes greater capacity in chip production than what is currently available throughout the world.

“We either build the Terafab or we don’t have the chips,” he said, according to Reuters.

The Terafab name is in reference to Musk’s goal of manufacturing chips equal to one terawatt of computing capacity every year, which he has said is roughly two times what is currently available in the United States.

Supply Chain Expert: There Are Lots Of Unknowns About Terafab

Supply chain expert Brad Gastwirth said in an email last week that while the “ambition implied is significant” for Terafab, “visibility into execution remains limited.”

“There is no defined timeline to high volume manufacturing, no disclosure around capital intensity or cost per wafer, and no guidance on yield ramp expectations, which are critical given how sensitive advanced node production remains,” he wrote.

“These gaps leave a wide range of possible outcomes and make it difficult to anchor expectations today,” added Gastwirth, who is global head of research and market intelligence at supply chain services firm Circular Technology.

What Intel Has Said Publicly About Terafab Involvement

Intel limited its announcement last Wednesday to 60-word posts on Musk’s social media platform, X, as well as LinkedIn, with no press release published to its website.

In the social media posts, the chipmaker said that it is “proud to join the Terafab project with SpaceX, xAI and Tesla to refactor silicon fab technology.”

“Our ability to design, fabricate and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale will accelerate Terafab’s aim to produce 1 [terawatt per year] of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics,” Intel added, noting that it hosted Musk the prior weekend.

Tan Held ‘Wide-Ranging’ Discussions With Musk

In his Friday memo, Tan reiterated his own social media remarks that Intel “will work closely with these companies to help bring up Terafab.”

He called the project an “ambitious plan to build advanced silicon logic, memory and packaging capabilities and to accelerate chip design and manufacturing.”

After calling the Tesla and SpaceX leader “a highly strategic thinker and one of the most audacious and visionary builders of our time,” Tan noted that he had “wide-ranging and deep conversations” with Musk and Musk’s colleagues.

From those discussions, “both sides quickly realized that working together would be mutually beneficial to furthering our shared objectives,” the Intel CEO added.

While Tan told his employees that Intel “will disclose more broadly the scope and nature of this engagement” in the coming weeks, he did not indicate whether the disclosure would be shared in a public manner.

Intel CTO To Manage Intel’s Terafab Involvement

In the memo, Tan indicated that his chief of staff and CTO, Pushkar Ranade, will manage Intel’s involvement with Terafab, which he called a “highly strategic project.” The CEO added that he will directly oversee the engagement.

“I have asked Pushkar to assemble and engage select technologists across the company to contribute to this project,” Tan wrote.

An 18-year company veteran, Ranade was promoted to become Tan’s chief of staff in March of last year, the same month the CEO joined the company.

Tan then gave Ranade the extra responsibility of interim CTO following the departure of Intel’s chief technology and AI officer, Sachin Katti, from a few months earlier.

“In the meantime, I ask all of you to support Pushkar on this project,” Tan wrote.