Terafab in Iola
Breaking Ground

Terafab

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The story so far

Terafab is a proposed vertically integrated semiconductor fabrication campus planned on more than 6,000 acres near the Gibbons Creek Reservoir outside Iola in Grimes County, Texas, roughly midway between Houston and College Station, targeting 2028.

Certified Closed-loop water systems (developer stated). Backed by SpaceX, Tesla and xAI and announced with Governor Greg Abbott, the project is designed to consolidate logic, memory and advanced chip packaging under a single roof at a scale Elon Musk has described as the world's largest chip-manufacturing facility, with a proposed footprint of 100 million square feet, more than twice the size of Tesla's Giga Texas campus outside Austin. The first phase carries a capital investment of more than $16.8 billion and is expected to create 3,000 jobs, supported by a $30 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant, a Grimes County reinvestment zone with a property-tax abatement, and JETI (Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act) agreements with Iola ISD and Anderson-Shiro CISD covering an eventual four-phase build-out valued at up to $119 billion. The chips produced are intended to supply Starlink satellites, SpaceX's planned space-based data centers, and Tesla's Optimus robots and self-driving vehicles, with Intel as a foundry partner. The site will draw industrial water from the Gibbons Creek Reservoir rather than local groundwater, supported by a closed-loop recycling system and on-site wastewater treatment, and SpaceX plans on-site natural gas generation and large battery arrays to power the facility. The land was assembled through Wit Tech LLC, an entity associated with xAI, and a precursor research fab is rising on the north campus of Giga Texas.

Expected opening 2028 est.
$16.8B first phase confirmed for Grimes County Aug 6, 2026

SpaceX, Tesla and xAI confirmed Iola as the Terafab site with a first-phase capital investment of more than $16.8 billion and 3,000 new jobs, Intel as foundry partner, and a $30 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant, with up to four phases and a total investment range of $55 billion to $119 billion.

oftmw.com
Broke ground Aug 2026

Site work under way: Terafab broke ground in August 2026 with land and tree clearing and initial site prep for phase one on the western side near Gibbons Creek Reservoir (Spectrum News Sep 28, 2026; KBTX/KWTX Aug 11, 2026 report clearing underway). State filings list formal construction start Dec 1, 2026, completion end of 2028.

oftmw.com
School districts approve JETI abatements Jul 2026

Iola ISD voted 5-2 on each of four JETI agreements with SpaceX affiliate TeraFab AI LLC, one per project phase, and Anderson-Shiro CISD also approved its Terafab JETI agreements; the governor's office later signed off (KBTX, The Texan).

kbtx.com
Tax deal clears the site Jun 3, 2026

Grimes County commissioners voted 4-1 to create a reinvestment zone over 22,000-plus acres around Gibbons Creek Reservoir and grant Terafab a 100% property-tax abatement, with SpaceX paying $20M up front plus $20M a year for 35 years and committing to $5B invested by 2030 and 1,800 jobs by 2035.

kbtx.com
Announced 2026 est.

No groundbreaking reported, demoting to announced.

oftmw.com
Milestones are dated to when they actually happened and linked to their source. This record fills in over time as TMW tracks the project.
TMW IntelligenceVerified Nov 6, 2026
AnnouncedBreaking GroundConstructionOpening SoonNow Open

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Companies and contacts

Every firm on Terafab, the office nearest it, and the people who work on it.

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Common questions

Frequently asked

Where is Terafab located?

Terafab is located in Iola.

When will Terafab be completed?

Terafab is breaking ground, with completion targeted in 2028 (a TMW estimate).

Who is developing Terafab?

SpaceX & More is the developer behind Terafab.