Tesla has started building the Crystal Sun solar factory, a $10 billion project near Houston, Texas. The plant will produce everything from silicon ingots to finished panels, with operations planned for early 2029.
The plant follows Terafab, the AI chip project Elon Musk announced in Austin. For Tesla shareholders, that means another multi-billion-dollar bet whose output arrives years after the spending starts.
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Construction should wrap up in 2028, according to a Tesla investor. Commercial production would then begin in the first quarter of 2029.
The economic estimates for Crystal Sun, the new Tesla plant, are large. The project could add about $107 billion to Texas GDP and roughly $6.4 billion in state and local taxes.
Tesla’s state filing also lists 9,712 full-time jobs, Manufacturing Dive reported. Meanwhile, a local observer who visited the site found cleared land and leveling work already underway.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared the construction update on X under the project’s name.
The timing matters. Musk’s Terafab chip plant targets AI hardware, and Intel has since joined the Terafab project. On Tesla’s July earnings call, Musk tied the solar push to rising power demand from AI and electrification.
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Tesla plans Crystal Sun lines for ingots, wafers, coating, metallization, and cell testing. Musk has said Chinese producers make solar cells at very low cost.
Crystal Sun may also be only a first step. Earlier this year, Musk floated a goal of 100 gigawatts of US solar cell output per year.
For Tesla shareholders, the Tesla solar factory adds to a growing list of capital-heavy projects. Terafab alone has been pitched as Earth’s most valuable building.
Tesla stock has rebounded in recent sessions but remains down for the year.
Beyond factories, Tesla’s balance sheet also includes its Bitcoin holdings, which the company has left unchanged in recent quarters.
Together, Terafab and the Tesla Crystal Sun plant suggest Musk wants control over both computing and its power supply. Delays, cost overruns, or weaker state incentives could still slow that plan. Talk of a possible Tesla-SpaceX merger could tie those projects even closer together.
