Tesla hires Gary Jiang, 17-year Intel veteran, as Director of Terafab chip project

Tesla hired Gary Jiang, a 17-year Intel semiconductor manufacturing veteran, as Director of Terafab, marking the first publicly named senior leadership hire for Elon Musk's $20 billion Austin chip fabrication project announced in March. Jiang started in June 2026 and will be based on-site at Giga Texas. Most recently, Jiang served as Factory Manager overseeing Intel's advanced 18A process technology transfer, tool installation, and high-volume manufacturing ramp at Intel's Ocotillo campus in Arizona—precisely the hands-on fab execution expertise Tesla has lacked in-house.

Earlier in his Intel career, Jiang managed technician teams across 22nm, 14nm, and 10nm-class process nodes at Fab 32 and Fab 42 in Chandler, Arizona, giving him two decades of high-volume production experience and supply-chain logistics. His hire signals Tesla's seriousness about building real fab talent, not just engineering slides. Terafab is a joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI targeting Intel's 14A process node, with plans to scale from 100,000 wafer starts per month toward 1 million. SpaceX's S-1 filing pegged total potential investment at $119 billion.

For chip architects and infrastructure planners, Jiang's appointment underscores a critical gap: Tesla has zero semiconductor manufacturing experience and cannot close it with a single hire, no matter how senior. Intel spent decades building the institutional knowledge Jiang represents. However, the decision to recruit from Intel's advanced-node operations rather than hire generic program managers shows Terafab is moving beyond concept work. Intel formally joined the project as a manufacturing partner in April 2026, providing 14A process technology and packaging expertise.