Rapidus Corp President and CEO Atsuyoshi Koike said Thursday he is seriously considering building a semiconductor plant on the moon around 2040, citing the presence of water resources needed for chip production as a factor.
"This is not a joke," Koike said at an event in Washington organized by the Hudson Institute, a U.S. think tank. "I'm thinking about maybe a 2040 time frame."
The head of the Japanese chipmaker, which is seeking to establish domestic production of next-generation semiconductors, showed the audience an AI-generated video depicting a factory on the lunar surface.
Koike also referred to U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is working on spacecraft designed to transport people and cargo to the moon. He said he thought Musk would like the video very much, drawing laughter from the audience.
U.S. tech giant IBM Corp CEO Arvind Krishna also attended. IBM is providing technical support to Rapidus as the Japanese company works toward mass production of 2-nanometer-class semiconductors at its plant in Hokkaido.
Krishna said IBM and Rapidus are also jointly conducting research and development on more advanced chips in the 1-nanometer range.
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