Musk’s staff reaches out to suppliers for Terafab project, Bloomberg News reports

April 15 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s staff have reached out to chip industry suppliers for his Terafab AI chip complex project with SpaceX and Tesla, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. 

The team has approached companies including Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron and Lam Research, and has asked chip manufacturing partner Samsung Electronics Co for support, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Staff have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, Bloomberg said, adding that in the past few weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools.

The goal is to begin silicon manufacturing by 2029 and then scale up, Bloomberg added. 

Musk’s representatives have asked for speedy price estimates while providing minimal information about the products, and Musk wants to move at “light speed,” according to the report. 

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Tesla, SpaceX, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Lam Research and Samsung Electronics did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Musk launched Terafab in March, and Intel last week said it would join the project to make processors powering the tech billionaire’s robotics and data center ambitions.

The project will be built on the Tesla campus in eastern Travis County, Austin, Texas. 

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)