There’s a saying in Texas that everything is bigger. New details about Tesla’s manufacturing plant just outside of Austin, known as Giga Texas, reveal that everything really is bigger in the Lone Star State, and Tesla is on its way to having the largest automotive manufacturing facility in the United States.
CEO Elon Musk detailed yesterday that the upcoming manufacturing plant just minutes outside of Austin will be “almost a mile long when complete,” making it so large that you likely have to see it to believe it. The automaker is nearing initial production at the plant, which is scheduled for later this year. While the world’s leading electric automaker might not produce a massive volume of vehicles at Giga Texas this year, you can bet that it will be one of Tesla’s biggest advantages in automotive manufacturing, especially in the United States, where demand for the company’s vehicles continues to grow.
I was at Giga Texas yesterday. Team is making excellent progress. Building will be almost a mile long when complete.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2021
On the list of the largest factories in the United States provided by RList, the massive 2.612 million square foot facility that Kia operates in West Point, Georgia, sits on more than 2,200 acres of land and had a hefty price tag of $1 billion. Kia has operated this plant since 2009, and it has remained the largest manufacturing factory in the United States since that time.
However, Giga Texas just may have the size to displace the massive Kia plant, putting it into second place if Musk’s calculations are true. After purchasing an additional 381 acres of land adjacent to the already 2,100 acres Tesla owned, the company is already planning to set its most advanced facility on the largest piece of land that a factory sits on in the country. 2,481 acres will outfit the estimated 1.7 million square feet that the main structure will sit on. The second facility will be an additional 900,000 square feet, with the final building tacking on another 1 million square feet, swamping the Kia facility with an estimated 3.6 million square feet of manufacturing floor space for Tesla to roam around on, a million square feet larger than the Georgia plant.
Dawn on Monday at GigaTexas! ?
Do you think we’ll get more details on Giga Texas & Berlin, Cybertruck, Model Y and Semi later today at the 2nd quarter results meeting?
Q2 2021 Update: https://t.co/AzftlaLG1N
? @JoeTegtmeyer pic.twitter.com/i3z6embrFZ— Austin Tesla Club (@AustinTeslaClub) July 26, 2021
To put this into perspective, the Tesla Fremont factory is only 510,000 square feet — and growing. However, Tesla’s flagship facility in the Northern California landscape has been a challenge for the automaker as production efforts increase and demand follows suit. The company has opted for temporary (and now permanent) spring structures to expand manufacturing space.
Musk added that Giga Texas is roughly seven stories tall, with every floor being “double in size.” Additionally, he expects the facility to grow by about 500 feet over time. He did not detail how he expects the facility to continue growing, but it could have something to do with the highly-speculated Project Bobcat that was listed in the Texas State public filings just a few months ago.
When Giga Texas begins production later this year, it will be responsible for Model Y, Cybertruck, Model 3, and Semi production for the Eastern half of North America.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI brings 1GW Colossus 2 AI training cluster online
Elon Musk shared his update in a recent post on social media platform X.
xAI has brought its Colossus 2 supercomputer online, making it the first gigawatt-scale AI training cluster in the world, and it’s about to get even bigger in a few months.
Elon Musk shared his update in a recent post on social media platform X.
Colossus 2 goes live
The Colossus 2 supercomputer, together with its predecessor, Colossus 1, are used by xAI to primarily train and refine the company’s Grok large language model. In a post on X, Musk stated that Colossus 2 is already operational, making it the first gigawatt training cluster in the world.
But what’s even more remarkable is that it would be upgraded to 1.5 GW of power in April. Even in its current iteration, however, the Colossus 2 supercomputer already exceeds the peak demand of San Francisco.
Commentary from users of the social media platform highlighted the speed of execution behind the project. Colossus 1 went from site preparation to full operation in 122 days, while Colossus 2 went live by crossing the 1-GW barrier and is targeting a total capacity of roughly 2 GW. This far exceeds the speed of xAI’s primary rivals.
Funding fuels rapid expansion
xAI’s Colossus 2 launch follows xAI’s recently closed, upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, which exceeded its initial $15 billion target. The company said the capital will be used to accelerate infrastructure scaling and AI product development.
The round attracted a broad group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco also continued their support, helping xAI build what it describes as the world’s largest GPU clusters.
xAI said the funding will accelerate its infrastructure buildout, enable rapid deployment of AI products to billions of users, and support research tied to its mission of understanding the universe. The company noted that its Colossus 1 and 2 systems now represent more than one million H100 GPU equivalents, alongside recent releases including the Grok 4 series, Grok Voice, and Grok Imagine. Training is also already underway for its next flagship model, Grok 5.
Elon Musk
Tesla AI5 chip nears completion, Elon Musk teases 9-month development cadence
The Tesla CEO shared his recent insights in a post on social media platform X.
Tesla’s next-generation AI5 chip is nearly complete, and work on its successor is already underway, as per a recent update from Elon Musk.
The Tesla CEO shared his recent insights in a post on social media platform X.
Musk details AI chip roadmap
In his post, Elon Musk stated that Tesla’s AI5 chip design is “almost done,” while AI6 has already entered early development. Musk added that Tesla plans to continue iterating rapidly, with AI7, AI8, AI9, and future generations targeting a nine-month design cycle.
He also noted that Tesla’s in-house chips could become the highest-volume AI processors in the world. Musk framed his update as a recruiting message, encouraging engineers to join Tesla’s AI and chip development teams.
Tesla community member Herbert Ong highlighted the strategic importance of the timeline, noting that faster chip cycles enable quicker learning, faster iteration, and a compounding advantage in AI and autonomy that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to close.
AI5 manufacturing takes shape
Musk’s comments align with earlier reporting on AI5’s production plans. In December, it was reported that Samsung is preparing to manufacture Tesla’s AI5 chip, accelerating hiring for experienced engineers to support U.S. production and address complex foundry challenges.
Samsung is one of two suppliers selected for AI5, alongside TSMC. The companies are expected to produce different versions of the AI5 chip, with TSMC reportedly using a 3nm process and Samsung using a 2nm process.
Musk has previously stated that while different foundries translate chip designs into physical silicon in different ways, the goal is for both versions of the Tesla AI5 chip to operate identically. AI5 will succeed Tesla’s current AI4 hardware, formerly known as Hardware 4, and is expected to support the company’s Full Self-Driving system as well as other AI-driven efforts, including Optimus.
News
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.
This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
Elon Musk’s xAI brings 1GW Colossus 2 AI training cluster online
Tesla AI5 chip nears completion, Elon Musk teases 9-month development cadence
