Intel is on a roll today as it has not only managed to bag a deal with Apple, but its cutting-edge Oregon Fab also got a visit by Elon Musk.
Intel's 18A Fab in Oregon Sees a Surprise Visit by Elon Musk, Paving the Way for AI Chip Supply Allocation Ahead of TeraFab Bring-Up?
A deal with Apple and now a visit by Elon Musk, today seems to be Intel's day. It is reported that Elon Musk has toured Intel's state-of-the-art Oregon fab, which is part of its Foundry business & producing cutting-edge chips such as Panther Lake CPUs on the 18A process technology.
Musk's visit and the tour that followed signal a growing interest in the company, which is not only seen in rising demand from the AI segment for its own CPUs, but also pulling in major customers. Intel & Elon have already announced a partnership in two key areas, one of the TeraFab project, which will be made with Intel, and the second is the leveraging of Intel's 14A process technology, a key node that will be used to make xAI's next-gen AI chips.
As plans are underway, Elon Musk has shown interest and decided to tour the facility himself. With this tour, Elon can get a sense of the scale and technologies that are being used by semiconductor makers to build the next era of chips. Elon has seen the building of automobiles, interstellar spaceships, and much more, but the technology being used to make chips on the nanometer scale is a sight to behold.
We visited Intel's Fab52 in Arizona last year to see the production of Panther Lake CPUs, and the tech in that facility was so advanced that it almost seemed alien.
Given the significance of Intel's Oregon fab, which is the company's largest R&D facility & manufacturing hub, housing over 22,000 employees, it is likely that Elon will also meet with Lip-Bu Tan, Intel's CEO, to further discuss their plans. Besides TeraFab running Intel's technologies, we could also see Intel's current technologies being used by xAI for the production of existing chips as its primary supplier, TSMC, which recently taped out the AI5 chip, is facing severe constraints and is unable to meet the demands of every AI firm.
Tesla has already stated that its AI6 and AI6.5 chips will be produced in the United States at Samsung Texas and TSMC Arizona fabs.
Whatever the goal of Musk's visit might be, one thing is for sure: Intel is flying high right now, and its Foundry business is now getting the traction that its former and current leaders hoped for. And this is just the beginning.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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