Recruiting an 18-year veteran from Intel, Musk’s TeraFab project is accelerating.
Release date:
2026-07-14
According to Wccftech, Tesla has hired a senior manufacturing expert from Intel with nearly 18 years of experience. Gary Jiang (Jiang) has been appointed Director of TeraFab, responsible for advancing the construction of this state-of-the-art fab, with an investment totaling tens of billions of U.S. dollars.
This also marks the most significant recruitment of core talent since the Terafab project was first publicly disclosed.
From an Intel veteran to the head of Terafab
According to Gary Jiang’s updated LinkedIn profile, he joined Tesla in June 2026, based in Austin, Texas, USA, holding the position of Director, Tera Fab.
Prior to joining Tesla, he spent nearly 18 years at Intel, where he long oversaw fab operations and manufacturing management. Most recently, he served as Factory Manager at Intel’s Arizona facility, with primary responsibilities including advancing the construction of Intel’s advanced 18A‑process fab and preparing it for mass production.
Even earlier, he had also been in charge of Intel. 22nm It has undertaken large-scale mass-production projects at multiple mature process nodes, including 14nm, and boasts extensive experience in fab construction, manufacturing management, and process ramp-up.
Terafab’s investment scale has increased to US$119 billion.
This personnel appointment further confirms that the Terafab project is transitioning from the conceptual phase to the stage of substantive construction.
According to public documents filed by SpaceX with Grimes County, Texas, the project plans to construct a… A next-generation, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing hub that combines chip fabrication, advanced packaging, and AI computing.
The document shows that TeraFab The initial investment is approximately US$55 billion, and upon completion of all phases, the total investment is expected to reach US$119 billion.
This scale far exceeds the roughly $20 billion to $25 billion initially projected by Musk, and it also means that TeraFab is poised to become one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing projects in U.S. history.
Intel has become a core manufacturing partner.
In April this year, Intel announced that it had become a key foundry partner for the Terafab project.
According to the information released by both parties, Intel will provide Advanced process technologies, manufacturing expertise, packaging capabilities, and fab‑construction support.
Previously, Musk stated that Terafab plans to adopt Intel’s 14-nanometer process node in the future. Given Gary Jiang’s long-standing involvement in building Intel’s advanced‑process fabs, his appointment is expected to serve as a crucial bridge between the two teams, helping Terafab swiftly complete fab construction and ramp up for mass production.
Musk hopes to resolve the AI chip supply bottleneck.
The Terafab project is jointly advanced by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. Its goal is not only to develop AI chips but also to establish an integrated semiconductor manufacturing hub spanning design, fabrication, packaging, and testing, thereby meeting the massive chip demand driven by future applications such as AI training, autonomous driving, humanoid robotics, and aerospace computing.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger previously stated that global wafer‑fabrication capacity currently falls short of meeting the rapidly growing demands of the AI era. Moving forward, Intel plans to collaborate with Elon Musk on this initiative, aiming to explore next‑generation chip‑manufacturing models.
Editor’s Comment
For Terafab, bringing on a manufacturing leader with nearly 20 years of fab‑management experience carries far more practical weight than merely announcing an investment. The greatest challenges in building an ultra‑large‑scale fab are not financial; they lie in adopting advanced process technologies, installing equipment, improving yield, and coordinating the supply chain—areas that Gary Jiang has long overseen throughout his career.
As the core management team gradually takes shape, Terafab has begun transitioning from Elon Musk’s ambitious vision to the stage of concrete implementation. Going forward, whether it can successfully build a world‑leading AI chip manufacturing hub as planned will depend on a range of factors, including advanced process technology, equipment supply, and its ability to execute large‑scale production.
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