Tesla is challenging the entire chip industry chain
See how Tesla's Terafab plan challenges the global chip industry's division of labor, as AI computing power drives vertical integration.
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Over the past decade, the global chip industry’s division of labor has faced almost no challenge: design companies handle architecture, while foundries handle manufacturing.
This “Fabless + Foundry” vertical specialization model has been the gold standard of the semiconductor industry since the 1980s. It has enabled design companies such as NVIDIA and Apple to operate with light assets, focusing on innovation, while handing over the capital-intensive manufacturing process to specialized foundries like TSMC. This efficiency-driven division of labor has propelled the rapid iteration of the global technology industry.
However, as artificial intelligence enters the “compute power war” stage, this model is beginning to be re-examined.
The training demands of AI large models are growing exponentially. Compute power is no longer merely a cost item—it has become a matter of survival. If an AI company’s required compute scale far exceeds market supply, there may be only one solution: build its own chips, and possibly even its own chip factories.
When Elon Musk announced the launch of the Terafab plan, it was not merely an expansion attempt by Tesla, but more likely signaled a structural reconfiguration of the global AI industry chain.
