Industry Elon Musk’s ‘TeraFab’ Quest Has Begun, as Tesla Poaches Taiwanese Engineers for What Could Be a Whopping $5 Trillion Project Muhammad Zuhair • at EDT Add on Google Image NVIDIA The TeraFab project unveiled by Tesla's CEO is one of the most ambitious ventures in the semiconductor industry, and interestingly, Musk is now looking towards Taiwan for his talent base. Tesla Is Now Looking to 'Poach' TSMC Engineers From Taiwan For Their TeraFab Project, Looking For the Top Talent Just a few days ago, Elon Musk shared his expectations for the TeraFab project, a facility that aims to scale chip output to levels no other foundry could match. TeraFab is planned to achieve an output of up to 1TW of compute per year, with an 80-20 split between Earth and space-focused deployments. Many semiconductor experts view the TeraFab project skeptically, but Tesla's CEO appears unbothered, as UDN reports that TeraFab plans to hire engineers from Taiwan, likely igniting a "talent war" in the region. Related Story Elon Musk Unveils TeraFab, the Next Step Towards a “Galactic Civilization”, Targeting a Scale That Makes Every Chip Fab on Earth Look TinyThe report notes that Tesla is approaching TSMC's engineers in Taiwan to secure their support for its mega project, and given how difficult it is to access chip talent globally, this effort could also exacerbate a talent shortage. On Tesla's official career page, there is an opening for a "Module Process Engineer" role at TeraFab, with a focus on accelerating "advanced system-on-chip (SoC) development". The job requires someone proficient in transistor technologies such as GAA and FinFET, and with over a decade of experience in foundry development. Image NVIDIA's Vera Rubin, Rubin Ultra, and Blackwell, and ultimately concluded that to achieve the scale TeraFab intends to get to, the investment required is estimated to be a whopping five times higher than the current valuation of the chip industry, which is shocking and intriguing at the same time. Bernstein calculated that Musk’s TeraFab would require at least $5 trillion. pic.twitter.com/dFhM2Knclu— Jukan (@jukan05) March 24, 2026 TeraFab's hiring spree indicates that the project is underway and is being taken seriously within Tesla and its management team. The constraints involved with a fab like this would likely be clarified once Tesla and its fab team detail the project, because, as of now, TeraFab is a mere PR stunt. Follow on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds. Further Reading Elon Musk’s Plans for the ‘World’s Largest’ Chip Fab Will Be Unveiled Next Week, to End Reliance on Foreign Foundries Elon Musk Says the Current Pace of AI Expansion Will “Force” the Need for Orbital Data Centers, But Chips Will Then Become the Major Bottleneck Elon Musk’s Mega “TeraFab” Project Will Combine Memory, Chips, and Packaging in One Facility, Claiming It’s the Only Way to Reach the Needed Scale Tesla Goes “All In” on Chipmaking as Elon Musk Confirms Dojo3 Is Back on Track; AI5 Chip to Rival NVIDIA’s Blackwell with Much Better Perf/$ Read all on Elon Musk’s ‘TeraFab’ Quest Has Begun, as Tesla Poaches Taiwanese Engineers for What Could Be a Whopping $5 Trillion Project
