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Elon Musk reveals SpaceX Starship production well underway inside new Texas factory
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has offered a new glimpse inside the company’s rapidly-expanding South Texas Starship factory, revealing the beginnings of the next-generation rocket’s first true assembly line — and a wealth of spacecraft hardware.
Situated two or so miles from the Gulf of Mexico (and Mexico itself) in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX has been seriously planning a presence in South Texas for more than five years. Originally meant to host the United States’ first private orbital launch complex for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, only a small amount of work – known as soil surcharging – was done in the four years that followed SpaceX’s 2014 announcement. In late 2018, however, work began in earnest to build basic launch and manufacturing facilities.
Less than six months later, the first true Starship prototype – known as Starhopper and built from scratch out in the South Texas elements – ignited its Raptor engine for a brief static fire test, bringing the first to facilities and rocket to life less than half a year after they were little more than a pile of dirt and steel sheets. Now, barely nine months after Starhopper’s first static fire test, SpaceX is working around the clock to erect a full-scale rocket factory and build what could become the first orbital-class Starships. On February 9th, Elon Musk offered the best glimpse yet of the incredible progress SpaceX has made in a matter of weeks.
Barely a month ago, the rocket hardware pictured above did not exist, while the giant Tesla-inspired tent containing those Starship parts was a half-finished skeleton. Now, Elon Musk says that SpaceX has effectively completed three of the hardest parts of its first upgraded Starship prototype (SN01), while an additional two (of three) of those parts – known as propellant tank domes – are already in work for a second Starship (SN02).
Outside of the ‘sprung structure’ (i.e. tent) shown in Musk’s February 9th photo, SpaceX contractors appear to be just days away from completing the shell of a second identical tent, ultimately doubling the space available for enclosed manufacturing operations. At the same time as both Starship hardware and production facilities are rapidly coming together, SpaceX is also erecting what is presumed to be a Vehicle Assembly Building – a potentially massive structure that will protect vertical Starships and Super Heavy boosters from the elements while workers assemble them into finished rockets.
Inside the finished tent, SpaceX appears to have set up the first true Starship assembly line (of sorts), expanding from working on a single kind of prototype at a time to concurrent (serial) production of major components. Visible are three Starship bulkheads (tank domes) – two completed instances of which have already been transported outside and integrated with finished ring segments, forming two halves of Starship SN01’s complete liquid methane (LCH4) tank.
Near the back of the tent, work is also ongoing on several Starship SN01 tank rings. In the center, technicians are outfitting Starship SN01’s engine and ‘skirt’ section, where the bottommost tank dome will attach to three (up to six) Raptor engines. To the left, a stack of two rings appears to be stored off to the side, while – only slightly visible in Musk’s photo – another pair of rings is being welded together with the help of a rotating table.
Far from its full capacity and working out of a much smaller tent, SpaceX’s dedicated ringforming station – tasked with turning coils of steel into finished Starship rings – has finished no less than 34 steel rings since the January 1st. SpaceX is still clearly learning and at least third of those rings wound up being scrapped due to defects, but the material cost of all of those rings (~55 tons of steel) is probably less than $150,000. Additionally, those 34 completed segments would reach more than 60 meters (200 ft) tall if stacked, enough to build almost two Starship tank and engine sections – domes excluded.
In simple terms, SpaceX has pivoted away from the more boutique style of prototype fabrication used for Starhopper and Starship Mk1 and is now building Starship SNxx hardware extremely quickly. At the same time, the enclosed manufacturing space available to SpaceX is probably going to double before this week is out. Ultimately, SpaceX’s March 2020 Starship SN01 flight debut target is quickly becoming less and less crazy by the day.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk maps out Tesla’s AI chip iterations, and they’re pretty nutty
Based on the CEO’s post, it appears that Tesla is already exploring generations as far as AI8.
Elon Musk recently revealed new details about Tesla’s next-generation AI5 chip while hinting at even more advanced iterations of its custom silicon.
Based on the CEO’s post, it appears that Tesla is already exploring generations as far ahead as AI8.
Elon Musk teases Tesla’s chip development
In his X post, Musk stated that he had just completed a design review with Tesla’s chip engineers in California and Texas for the company’s upcoming AI5 chip. This was not surprising at all, considering that Musk has been discussing AI5 for quite some time now. What was surprising, however, were his comments that followed.
“And AI6 and AI7 will follow in fast succession. AI8 will be out of this world,” he wrote in his post, adding in a follow-up that his chip design review would be continuing the next day, followed by an Optimus demo review.
Considering that Tesla is currently rolling out a Robotaxi service using cars that are equipped with AI4 chips, some industry watchers have expressed interest in why the company is developing several generations’ worth of silicon for the company’s products. Inasmuch as AI4 might be enough for FSD and the Robotaxi rollout today, however, products such as Optimus might benefit from a more advanced chip.
Even AI5 will already be insanely impressive
During Tesla’s Q3 2025 earnings call, Musk described AI5 as “an amazing design” that represents a full evolution from the AI4 chip currently used in its vehicles and data centers. The new hardware, which will be manufactured by both Samsung in Texas and TSMC in Arizona, is expected to deliver up to 40x performance gains compared to its predecessor.
Tesla’s in-house engineering team redesigned the chip from the ground up, removing traditional components such as GPUs and image signal processors to improve efficiency and power måanagement. Musk said the chip now fits within a half-reticle design, calling it “a beautiful chip” into which he’s “poured so much life energy.”
Musk confirmed Tesla’s plan to create an oversupply of AI5 chips that could power not only vehicles but also humanoid robots and data centers. He emphasized that Tesla’s vertically integrated approach, designing both hardware and software, gives it a unique edge in scaling AI applications.
Elon Musk
Tesla to offer Full Self-Driving gifting program: here’s how it will work
Tesla executive Raj Jegannathan said the company would be shipping the gifting program out before the holidays, making a great gift for owners just in time for Christmas.
Tesla will soon offer a gifting program for its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite, allowing people to gift a subscription to the semi-autonomous driving software for a variety of timeframes.
The idea would allow people to gift Full Self-Driving as a trial, potentially shifting them to subscribe or even buy the software outright if they find it useful.
Tesla is overhauling its Full Self-Driving subscription for easier access
FSD is a pretty difficult thing to not use once you have it, and while you still have to pay attention, and it has its shortcomings, it takes a lot of the stressors out of driving.
Tesla executive Raj Jegannathan said the company would be shipping the gifting program out before the holidays, making a great gift for owners just in time for Christmas.
Will have it ready before holidays!
— Raj Jegannathan (@r_jegaa) November 3, 2025
Full Self-Driving is Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving platform that is currently among the most robust options on the market. As a personal user, I find it to be an extremely beneficial feature that I use on a daily basis.
While Tesla does offer gift cards, this would be a great option to choose the present you’re giving to a family member or friend.
Tesla offers a subscription to Full Self-Driving in the United States for $99 per month; it gives people an opportunity to try the suite for a month and is more affordable in the short term for those who cannot swing the current $8,000 fee to purchase it outright.
CEO Elon Musk has advised every Tesla owner to purchase the suite outright. In 2020, he confirmed that a subscription program would be released, but he said, “It will be economically better to have bought FSD.”
He continued in 2021, stating that “buying FSD will still be a better long-term deal than subscription.
He has also said that the monthly subscription price could rise as FSD goes to wide release, but that has yet to happen. In fact, it was originally $199 a month, but Tesla decreased the price to $99. We’re hopeful it doesn’t get more expensive.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk just roasted Sam Altman’s Tesla Roadster cancellation
“And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours.
But that is in your nature.”
Elon Musk has responded to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s decision to cancel his Tesla Roadster reservation, which he revealed on X on Thursday.
We reported on Altman’s decision, which he called “A tale in three acts,” showing his confirmation email from Tesla back in 2018, an email requesting his $50,000 deposit back after canceling his order, and a notification from Google that the email he sent was not delivered.
A tale in three acts: pic.twitter.com/ClRZBgT24g
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 30, 2025
Musk did not take too kindly to the post from his tech rival, first referencing his position with OpenAI, and then confirming that Altman received his reservation deposit back within 24 hours:
And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours.
But that is in your nature.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2025
OpenAI was started by Musk, Altman, and others back in 2015, and was geared toward being a non-profit company that would develop safe artificial intelligence that would be accessible to people.
However, Musk and Altman did not agree on the future of the company. Musk left, and Altman turned OpenAI into a for-profit company. This led to a variety of lawsuits and some very public spats between the two. Musk has called out Altman for turning the company into a for-profit, which has been his main source of criticism for his former colleague.
The Roadster has been hanging in the balance of Tesla’s manufacturing plans for seven years, but the company has made more indications that it will be unveiled later this year and will have some insane technologies.
Musk said on Friday in an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast that Tesla is “getting close to demonstrating the prototype.”
He said:
“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”
Musk hinted that the vehicle could fly and would have “crazy technology” that would put James Bond’s vehicles to shame. It will be interesting to see what Tesla will unveil when the event happens and if it can come through on this mind-blowing teaser.
Elon Musk maps out Tesla’s AI chip iterations, and they’re pretty nutty
Tesla to offer Full Self-Driving gifting program: here’s how it will work
Elon Musk just roasted Sam Altman’s Tesla Roadster cancellation
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