Terafab courts Korean suppliers as it builds a chip supply chain from scratch

Terafab, the semiconductor project backed by Elon Musk’s Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, has turned to South Korea for help building its supply chain. Its representatives met with about 10 Korean companies at SEMICON West, held October 13 to 15, 2026. The goal is enormous. Terafab plans to stand up a US chip manufacturing operation capable of producing 1 million wafers per month within 10 years. What came out of the Korea meetings The SEMICON West talks produced numerous non-disclosure agreements. Discussions centered on advanced materials and components needed for semiconductor production. HPSP is supplying one high-pressure hydrogen annealing system for Terafab’s research and development line. Hanmi Semiconductor, meanwhile, has received orders for advanced packaging equipment. The Texas footprint and the price tag Terafab’s flagship facility will sit at Tesla’s Giga Texas in Austin. Prototype fabrication work there began earlier in 2026. A larger semiconductor fab is planned for the former Gibbons Creek site in Grimes County, Texas. The first phase of that project carries a projected cost of approximately $16.8 billion, a figure announced in August 2026. The full buildout could reach up ...