WASHINGTON: Elon Musk announced Saturday a plan to make chips for artificial intelligence, robotics and data centers in space, in the latest bold project by the world&#39;s richest person. The &quot;Terafab&quot;, a manufacturing facility based near Austin, Texas, will aim to produce one terawatt of computing power per year, Musk said. A terawatt is equivalent to one trillion watts. That is slightly less than the total power generation capacity of the United States, according to an industry group. Musk said the project would be run jointly by his electric-vehicle firm Tesla and his rocket company SpaceX. He did not disclose the initial investment. Previous US media reports have put the figure between $20 billion and $25 billion. Musk, who has no prior experience in semiconductors, said the Terafab was necessary because Tesla and SpaceX&#39;s demand for computing power was expected to far exceed that of global chip suppliers. &quot;We&#39;re very grateful to our existing supply chain, to Samsung, TSMC, Micron, and others... but there&#39;s a maximum rate at which they&#39;re comfortable expanding,&quot; Musk said. &quot;That rate is much less than we would like... and we need the chips, so we&#39;re going to build the Terafab.&quot; An &quot;advanced technology fab&quot; in Austin will have the facilities to design, manufacture, test and improve each chip, Musk said. Eventually, the project aims to make chips to support 100 to 200 gigawatts of computing power on Earth, and a terawatt in space. Musk did not give a timeline for the Terafab&#39;s output, and has previously promised grand results from other projects on compressed time scales. He said the Terafab would ultimately help humanity become a &quot;galactic civilization&quot; capable of harnessing the resources of other planets and stars.

Artificial Intelligence

Elon Musk unveils plan for “Terafab,” a joint Tesla and SpaceX project to build AI chip manufacturing capacity on Earth and eventually in space to meet rising computing demand.

Musk launches 'Terafab' project to make own AI chips

WASHINGTON: Two Chinese nationals and two Americans have been arrested for allegedly illegally exporting cutting-edge Nvidia chips with AI applications to China, the Justice Department said on Thursday. Chinese nationals Cham Li, 38, and Jing Chen, 45, along with Americans Hon Ning Ho, 34, and Brian Raymond, 46, are charged with conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) and money laundering. Justice officials said the four conspired to illegally export advanced Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) to China through Malaysia and Thailand. The defendants engaged in a &quot;deliberate and deceptive effort to transship controlled Nvidia GPUs to China by falsifying paperwork, creating fake contracts, and misleading US authorities,&quot; Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said in a statement. They received nearly $4 million from China to help finance the export scheme, the department said. It said some 400 Nvidia A100 GPUs were exported to China between October 2024 and January 2025 in two shipments. Two other shipments were &quot;disrupted by law enforcement and therefore not completed.&quot; The Justice Department said China is seeking cutting-edge US technology to further its goal of becoming the world leader in AI by 2030. Violations of ECRA and money laundering are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Chinese nationals Cham Li and Jing Chen, along with Americans Hon Ning Ho and Brian Raymond, are charged with conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act and money laundering.

Articles tagged with "AI Chips"

Musk launches 'Terafab' project to make own AI chips

Four arrested in US in scheme to smuggle AI chips to China