Intel joins Tesla and SpaceXAI on $25B Orbittal AI Bet
Chamath Palihapitiya
· Chamath Palihapitiya
· April 12, 2026 at 16:01
· ⏱ 3 min read
| Read on Substack ↗
Summary
The article summarizes key tech and AI developments from the past week, focusing on Intel joining Elon Musk's $25 billion orbital AI chip venture, Meta's shift to a closed-source AI model, and OpenAI's record funding round and IPO plans. These events underscore the accelerating investments and strategic moves in the AI industry, with implications for semiconductor, space, and AI software markets.
•Intel joined Terafab, a $25 billion chip fabrication joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, contributing its advanced 18A process node for orbital AI data centers.
•SpaceX has filed to launch one million data center satellites into low Earth orbit, aiming to make AI workloads cheaper in orbit within three years.
•Meta debuted Muse Spark, a closed-source AI model, marking a departure from its open-weight strategy and claiming competitive performance at 10x lower compute cost.
•Muse Spark will be integrated into Meta's apps and AI glasses, with healthcare capabilities developed in collaboration with physicians.
•OpenAI raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation, the largest private fundraising event, and plans an IPO with retail investor participation.
•OpenAI projects $280 billion in revenue by 2030, up from over $20 billion annualized currently, signaling aggressive growth expectations.