EV maker leaning on still-in-development 14A process for Terafab, says it needs to build own silicon

Elon Musk used Tesla's latest earnings call to reveal plans to build AI chips on Intel's not-yet-finished 14A process – a bet on silicon that doesn't exist.

"Intel is excited to partner with us on some of the core manufacturing technologies," Musk said, referring to Tesla's planned "Terafab" chipmaking push, which he says is aimed at producing its own AI silicon at scale. He added that Tesla plans to use "Intel's 14A process, which is state-of-the-art and in fact, not yet totally complete."

That last bit didn't seem to trouble him. "By the time Terafab scales up, 14A will be probably fairly mature or ready for prime time… we think it's going to be a great partnership," Musk added.

The 14A process Musk is referring to is a future node beyond Intel's upcoming 18A, itself not yet in production, that's supposed to ...