Jim Cramer addressed market rumors regarding Elon Musk’s semiconductor manufacturing plans on Wednesday, stating that reports of Musk ending his partnership with Intel are false. In a post on X, Cramer declared that the original partnership remains intact and that Intel is continuing to work with Musk on the Terafab project.
The CNBC host criticized market participants for focusing on recent weakness in the South Korean benchmark index, the Kospi, rather than the significant capital investments being made in domestic technology. Cramer highlighted that investors were overlooking a "$40b pot of gold" directed by Musk toward Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) for AI infrastructure.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan confirmed to Bloomberg that the company will continue working with Musk on the Texas-based Terafab project. This confirmation came ahead of a Tokyo event commemorating Intel’s 50th year of operations in Japan. Intel stock dipped approximately 0.91% to $111.48 in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
The Terafab initiative, first detailed in April, involves Intel collaborating with Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX). Intel stated that its chip design, manufacturing, and advanced packaging capabilities are intended to support the project's goal of producing one terawatt of computing capacity for artificial intelligence and robotics per year.
Musk clarified the operational structure of the project on Wednesday in a response to Tesla expert Herbert Ong. Musk stated, "We will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that." He added that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSMC) might sublease part of the Terafab facility if they wish, but that nothing more than that would occur.
