Elon Musk's Terafab semiconductor project could cost $5 trillion, Bernstein claims — herculean effort would cost more than 70% of the total yearly US government budget

Intel.

Although the $20 billion funds injected in Elon Musk's TeraFab project — which is supposed to build logic and memory chips as well as package them under one roof — is barely enough to build a 7nm-class logic fab, Elon Musk's eventual ambitions include producing millions or billions of AI chips that consume 1 terawatt (1 TW) of power per year. This ambition by far exceeds today's industry capacity, and if Musk pursues it, he will need $5 trillion, according to Bernstein (via @Jukan05). Interestingly, the order of the sum is similar to what Sam Altman was seeking for his failed fab network a couple of years ago.

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