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Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas, seen here in April.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner \/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Tesla Inc. CEO\u00a0Elon Musk is taking a spend-money-to-make money-attitude<\/a> as he pushes the Austin company toward new pursuits\u00a0\u2014 and away from being just an\u00a0automaker.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of those pursuits will have direct impacts<\/a> in Austin.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at how Central Texas\u00a0\u2014 and the state\u00a0\u2014 are likely to be impacted.<\/p>\n Terafab\u2019s Austin site<\/p>\n Construction is seen north of the Tesla Giga Texas factory in Austin on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla and SpaceX are planning the world\u2019s largest chip manufacturing plant, called Terafab, but said this site would be used for a smaller facility focused on chip design.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Tesla said in its earnings report Wednesday that it is making progress on construction and equipment procurement for its semiconductor\u00a0development plant in Austin, which is tied to SpaceX\u2019s larger Terafab<\/a> project that appears to be headed for a site\u00a0near College Station.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThat development fab, I think, is pretty cool,\u201d Musk said, adding the plant at Gigafactory Texas\u00a0will include space for everything from mass producing semiconductor chips to testing and packaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo you can have a very fast iterative cycle and try out new chip designs very quickly and see if they work,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think such a building exists anywhere on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding the main Terafab plant, Musk said Tesla would officially announce a location soon. All signs are pointing to Grimes County, where county and school district officials have already given at least preliminary approval to tax breaks for the plant, which is expected to employ 3,000 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is a very big announcement and it deserves to have its own sort of day in the spotlight and not be sort of squeezed into an earnings call,\u201d Musk said. \u201cBut I do think Terafab is going to be an amazing initiative and a necessary one, and one without which we will be constrained in our ability to scale.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cybercab slowdown<\/p>\n A Tesla Cybercab drives in downtown Austin, Tuesday, May 19, 2026.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Musk also disclosed that Cybercab, the purpose-built robotaxi being produced at Gigafactory Texas<\/a>, isn\u2019t quite ready to join the company\u2019s robotaxi fleet.\u00a0Tesla is still conducting chassis testing and needs to accumulate more driving data before the two-seaters are road ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u00a0actually have to accumulate miles with Cybercabs that are retrofitted with steering wheels and brakes, acceleration, braking that kind of thing, to calibrate to the Cybercab chassis,\u201d Musk said. \u201cSo you\u2019ll see as we are confident about that, the number of Cybercabs in cities will increase dramatically.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cybercabs have become a fairly common sight around Austin, where they\u2019re being\u00a0tested on city streets and used by\u00a0employees at Gigafactory Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robotaxi rollout<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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