Elon Musk on US semiconductor manufacturing
From JUST RECORDED: Elon Musk Interviewed by JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon · · Brighter with Herbert
“It's worth noting that there's not a single high volume computer memory fab in America right now. Zero. There's one being built in Idaho by Micron, but that will not reach volume production till I believe 2028. And there's something built in New York, but they are in I think 29 and 30. And this is a tiny fraction of the memory that's needed.”
On , Elon Musk, Co-Founder, Technoking of Tesla, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Tesla, spoke about US semiconductor manufacturing during JUST RECORDED: Elon Musk Interviewed by JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon on Brighter with Herbert.
About Elon Musk
Elon Musk has been discussing plans to scale AI computing into space, stating that SpaceX aims to reach an annualized rate of one gigawatt of space-based AI compute by the end of 2027 and scale that by an order of magnitude per year thereafter. He described a concept for AI satellites that are simpler than Starlink satellites, consisting primarily of solar cells, radiators, and laser links. Musk said that to reach higher power levels, a "terafab" chip factory of around 100 million square feet would be needed, and that further scaling to a terawatt could require a mass driver on the Moon to launch AI satellites into deep space using an electromagnetic gun. He noted that SpaceX currently delivers an estimated 85–90% of Earth's mass to orbit and aims to increase that from roughly 2,500 tons per year to millions of tons per year within about three years using Starship, which he described as the first fully and rapidly reusable orbital rocket. At Tesla's Q1 2026 earnings call, Musk said the company would substantially increase capital expenditures to support future growth, including the deployment of over 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites. He stated that supervised full self-driving (FSD) had been approved in the Netherlands and was expected to go to EU review in May, but noted that the timeline for unsupervised self-driving or robotaxi service in Europe would depend on regulators. Musk also commented on the end of production for the Model S and Model X, calling the Model S a vehicle that changed perceptions of electric cars. In other appearances, he discussed the importance of having children, described AI as a potential existential risk, and said he expects digital superintelligence to exceed human biological compute around 2029 or 2030.