World Hit by Crisis, Elon Musk's Megaproject Immediately in the Spotlight

The world is currently facing a memory chip shortage crisis that is leading to price increases for consumer electronics such as mobile phones and laptops. Technology giants and chip manufacturers have warned of even more massive impacts until 2027. Amid this shortage crisis, Elon Musk is attempting to produce chips himself through a megaproject called Terafab, reported to be worth US$55 billion (Rp954 trillion). Musk’s company, SpaceX, has proposed initial investment for the megaproject. The funds collected will be used to build semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Texas through SpaceX. Terafab will combine SpaceX’s business units, xAI, and Tesla to construct two advanced chip factories. The two facilities in Grimes County will produce chips for different products. One facility will be used for Tesla and the humanoid robot Optimus. The rest will be for AI data centres in space, which has become another major ambition of Musk’s. “We must build Terafab or we won’t have chips,” Musk said in a presentation last March in Austin, quoted from Reuters, Thursday (7/5/2026). Musk also added that only a small portion of the company’s needs can currently be met by global chip production. His demand will exceed the total existing production. Terafab will handle every chip production process, including the chip design later on. Musk once claimed that Terafab would produce one terawatt of computing capacity per year. That claim is far larger than the half-terawatt produced in the United States (US). Bernstein estimates that building facilities for one terawatt would cost between US$5 and US$13 trillion. Meanwhile, last April, Musk revealed that details of Terafab’s deployment are still being worked on. Musk often announces his ambitious projects but does not provide timelines, including for Terafab. Most of the projects announced previously have ended up being delayed or failed.