Tesla hires 17-year Intel veteran responsible for billion-dollar fab startups — Gary Jiang likely chosen to oversee fab efforts for Terafab’s licensing of 14A

Tesla has hired Gary Jiang, an Intel veteran who most recently was responsible for installing equipment and transferring Intel’s leading-edge 18A technology process from development fab in Oregon to the company’s high-volume fab in Arizona, as spotted by Electrek.co. The appointment marks the first publicly identified senior leadership hire for Elon Musk’s semiconductor production project, Terafab, which demonstrates Tesla’s effort to build an experienced semiconductor manufacturing organization from the ground up by hiring veterans from other companies.

Tesla poaches an Intel veteran

Gary Jiang joined Tesla in June 2026 after spending over 17 years at Intel, according to his LinkedIn profile. Interestingly, there is little to glean about his current role from his LinkedIn profile, aside from noting that he is a director at Tesla. His final position at Intel was as Factory Manager, where he oversaw the construction of the production facility, the installation of fabrication equipment, factory startup, product certification, preparation for high-volume manufacturing, and, ultimately, the transfer of Intel 18A technology from the development fab in Oregon to high-volume Fab 52 in Arizona.

Earlier in his Intel career, Jiang held multiple management positions at the company’s Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, where he managed technician teams accountable for startup, ramp, yield, and output for 22nm, 14nm, and 10nm-class process technologies (which include Intel 10nm SuperFin and 10nm Enhanced SuperFin/ Intel 7) at Fab 32 and Fab 42.

Tesla has been looking for a Technical Program Manager (TPM) for semiconductor infrastructure, focused on end-to-end fab program delivery, since March, but without any success, as the job listing is still listed on the company’s website. Therefore, Terafab — the joint initiative between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI — still does not have a formal leader who is going to lead the whole project.

In his most recent role at Intel, Gary Jiang worked closely with supply chain, finance, and materials logistics for new factory planning for output, wafer cost, yield, and profit & loss, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also managed the billion-dollar capital equipment and startup of the fab. Hence, without any doubt, Jiang appears to have been one of the senior manufacturing leaders responsible for building and equipping Intel’s new 18A-capable manufacturing facilities in Arizona (primarily Fab 52, and potentially Fab 62 as the campus expands). However, it would still be inaccurate to say he was the person responsible for building Fab 52 alone.

Jiang’s skills roughly match what one would expect from a senior manufacturing executive helping commission a new leading-edge fab, so he will be instrumental in turning a newly constructed fab shell (or even cleanroom) into a production-ready semiconductor manufacturing facility.

However, he did not oversee the entire Fab 52/Fab 62 program and was not responsible for every stage of the project — from permitting and groundbreaking to construction, tool installation, and the ramp to high-volume manufacturing. Likewise, he is unlikely to lead the Terafab project as a whole. Nonetheless, given that Terafab is set to license Intel’s 14A process technology, Gary Jiang is probably among the best candidates to equip a fab for an Intel manufacturing node.

One major caveat

In fact, one of the most confusing parts about Tesla’s hiring people to work at Terafab is that Tesla itself will not own any high-volume semiconductor production facilities; SpaceX will, according to Elon Musk.

In the near term, Tesla plans to build a $3 billion semiconductor R&D center at its Texas campus. The facility will house a small pilot line capable of processing a few thousand wafers per month to develop and validate new manufacturing technologies before they are scaled for commercial production.

Once the pilot line shows signs of success, SpaceX is expected to construct a full-scale high-volume manufacturing fab. However, coordinating a joint project between Tesla and SpaceX will add complexity, as major decisions require approval from both companies’ boards and must undergo conflict-of-interest reviews, which will likely slow execution.

That said, given that Gary Jiang was hired by Tesla, not SpaceX, his responsibilities could be to equip and ramp a development facility at its Gigafactory Texas campus rather than build, equip, and ramp a high-volume fab for SpaceX. In any case, we are speculating here, and nothing can really stop SpaceX from hiring Jiang at some point down the line.