SpaceX and Tesla's newly planned megastructure could soon overtake the world's largest building by volume. The Terafab, as it is known, is set to dwarf even some of the world's largest industrial buildings, with more than 100 million square feet of manufacturing space and an estimated internal volume of around 100 million cubic metres. It could stretch for three miles.
Current record holder
The Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, is currently the world's largest building by volume, spanning more than 472 million cubic feet. The enormous facility covers 98 acres, while the original Disneyland park in Anaheim, California, occupies around 85 acres.
Since opening in 1967, the Boeing plant has been the birthplace of more than 5,000 wide-bodied airliners, making it one of the most remarkable industrial sites on the planet. It even had its own weather; when it first opened, clouds would form just beneath its 90-ft-high ceiling due to moisture buildup. Now, though, air conditioning has prevented this from happening.
Planned scale and investment
By comparison, Boeing's Everett factory encloses roughly 472 million cubic feet, or about 13.3 million cubic metres. The Terafab could have a footprint between five and 23 times larger than the Boeing facility and around 7.5 times its internal volume, making it one of the largest manufacturing buildings ever built.
The SpaceX and Tesla project is being planned in Grimes County, Texas. The facility is being designed to "close the gap between today's chip production and the future's demand – a future among the stars".
Reuters reported that a May filing showed SpaceX has proposed an initial investment of $55 billion (£41 billion) to build the Terafab, with the total amount rising to $119 billion (£90 billion) if extra phases are completed.
Jobs and economic impact
The project is also expected to create thousands of jobs. Texas Governor Greg Abbott's office said the first phase will create 3,000 new jobs, with a $30 million (£22 million) Texas Enterprise Fund grant extended to SpaceX.
Musk said the project would bring advanced manufacturing to the US while creating thousands of highly paid jobs in Texas. "The Terafab is bringing cutting-edge manufacturing to America, creating thousands of high-paying jobs in the Lone Star State," he said.
