Musk is asking chip suppliers to move at ‘light speed’ for his Terafab AI chip plant

According to Bloomberg, teams from SpaceX and Tesla have approached Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Lam Research, and Samsung for price quotes and delivery times on chipmaking equipment. 

Teams working for Elon Musk have reached out to major chip industry suppliers including Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Lam Research, as well as chip manufacturing partner Samsung Electronics, as part of Musk’s Terafab project, a proposed AI chip fabrication complex linked to SpaceX and Tesla.

According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, the team has sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking equipment including photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers, and other tools.

Bloomberg describes the pace as driven by Musk’s desire to move at “light speed,” with staff seeking speedy price estimates while providing minimal information about the intended products.

Terafab has been described as an ambitious plan for a US-based, fully integrated AI chip complex capable of manufacturing silicon at scale, a project that would place Musk’s companies in direct competition with the established fab ecosystem dominated by TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.

The project sits within a broader pattern of Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, seeking to own critical components of the AI supply chain rather than depend on third-party suppliers.

Tesla already designs its own Dojo supercomputer training chips. The supplier outreach, if verified, would suggest Terafab has moved beyond conceptual planning into active procurement scoping, though the lack of detailed information shared with suppliers makes it difficult to assess how mature the project is.