Tesla Hires Intel Veteran for TERAFAB Chip Project

Tesla is accelerating its in-house semiconductor capabilities by recruiting senior experts from the chip industry. Gary Jiang’s LinkedIn page now lists him as a Director at Tesla, representing the first major leadership hire tied directly to the TERAFAB chip initiative. Jiang spent more than 17 years at Intel, most recently serving as Factory Manager, where he led tooling and production ramps for advanced semiconductor nodes.

According to a report from Electrek, Jiang began working on-site in Austin this month. His extensive experience in technology transfer and factory startups is the type of expertise Tesla needs to execute its plans. While Tesla has long designed custom silicon, manufacturing chips at scale is a different challenge.

Landing Intel’s Top Manufacturing Talent

Jiang’s background at Intel aligns with building a program from the ground up. He oversaw construction, equipment installation, and preparations for high-volume manufacturing of advanced chip technologies. Before those next-generation lines, he managed area operations at Intel’s Arizona campus, covering high-volume output for legacy 14nm and 22nm hardware.

Bringing in an executive skilled in capital equipment budgeting and yield improvement indicates Tesla aims to avoid common fabrication growing pains. The timing coincides with increased hiring in Texas, including listings for program managers to oversee sizable capital expenditure budgets for new factory builds. Recent regulatory filings show the initial phases of TERAFAB have a total projected investment of $119 billion, and, per Elon Musk, that figure is flexible.

The Massive Scale of the TERAFAB Project

Musk outlined the TERAFAB vision at a launch event in March, describing it as the most ambitious chip-building project in human history. The goal is to combine the capabilities of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI (which SpaceX now owns) to bring chip design, advanced packaging, fabrication, and testing under one roof, enabling unprecedented iteration and production cycles. The foundation was reinforced in April when Tesla and SpaceX partnered with Intel, confirming that Intel would provide core manufacturing expertise.

The project’s scope has expanded rapidly. To support the build-out, SpaceX filed for a TERAFAB construction site in Texas, located in Grimes County. This new executive hire underscores that the coalition is acquiring the institutional knowledge required to convert major site plans into active, high-volume chip production lines.