Musk’s Mega Plan for Chip Manufacturing | Bloomberg Tech 3/23/2026

Trump delays military action for diplomatic talks

President Trump delayed planned strikes on Iran for five days citing progress in talks involving envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, causing the S&P 500 to rally and Brent crude oil to fall below $96 per barrel.

Israeli operations continue despite U.S. talks

Israeli officials informed Bloomberg they will maintain military operations against Iranian assets regardless of U.S. diplomatic efforts, while Iranian state media dismissed Trump's comments as psychological warfare aimed at reducing energy prices.

Pentagon requests $200 billion funding boost

The Department of Defense requested approximately $200 billion in additional funding to backfill stockpiles and support Middle East operations, indicating sustained military commitment even as diplomatic solutions are pursued.

TeraFab targets unprecedented scale in Austin

Tesla and SpaceX will jointly operate a chip facility starting at 100,000 wafers per month with plans to scale to 1 million, vertically integrating logic, memory, and packaging—processes typically handled by separate specialized manufacturers.

Orbital data centers drive chip demand

SpaceX filed with the FCC to launch up to 1 million data center satellites into sun-synchronous orbit for constant solar power, with Musk stating 80% of chip production will serve GPUs for these space-based computing clusters.

Starship reusability critical to economics

Fidelity's analysis indicates orbital data centers become economically viable only if SpaceX achieves full Starship reusability, with Flight 12 scheduled for April to test the Gen3 ship capable of carrying 100 tons to orbit.

John Ternus emerges as heir apparent

Apple SVP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus has assumed oversight of Vision Products, robotics, and design teams, positioning the 25-year veteran as the leading internal candidate to succeed Tim Cook within the next decade.

Cook expected to transition to chairman role

Cook, who has indicated he cannot imagine leaving Apple, is expected to transition to Executive Chairman rather than fully retire, with Ternus representing a continuity choice who brings deeper product expertise than operations-focused leadership.