Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) just got the kind of public endorsement its foundry ambitions have been missing, from Elon Musk.

Shares of Intel gained on Tuesday after it joined the Terafab project alongside SpaceX, xAI and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). The move positions the chipmaker at the center of Musk's latest attempt to redesign silicon fabrication technology. 

The company said its capabilities in designing, manufacturing and packaging high-performance chips at scale will support Terafab's goal of producing 1 terawatt of compute per year to advance future AI and robotics.

Intel added that it hosted Musk at its facilities over the weekend, a detail that reinforces the idea this is not just a paper partnership but a strategically important relationship-building moment with one of the largest potential AI-compute buyers on the planet. 

For investors, Musk's visible stamp of approval on Intel's manufacturing roadmap ...