{"slug": "rapidus-president-considering-building-chip-plant-on-moon-by-around-2040", "title": "Rapidus president considering building chip plant on moon by around 2040", "summary": "Rapidus Corp President and CEO Atsuyoshi Koike said Thursday he is seriously considering building a semiconductor plant on the moon around 2040, citing lunar water resources needed for chip production. \"This is not a joke,\" Koike said at a Hudson Institute event in Washington, where he showed an AI-generated video of a lunar factory. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, whose company provides technical support to Rapidus for mass production of 2-nanometer-class chips in Hokkaido, said the two firms are jointly researching 1-nanometer-range chips.", "body_md": "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.\n\n\"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.\"\n\nThe 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.\n\nKoike 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.\n\nU.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.\n\nKrishna said IBM and Rapidus are also jointly conducting research and development on more advanced chips in the 1-nanometer range.\n\n© KYODO", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/rapidus-president-considering-building-chip-plant-on-moon-by-around-2040", "canonical_source": "https://japantoday.com/category/tech/rapidus-president-considering-chip-plant-on-moon-around-2040", "published_at": "2026-09-11 20:43:34+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-11 20:55:12.979760+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-chips", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Rapidus Corp", "Atsuyoshi Koike", "IBM", "Arvind Krishna", "Hudson Institute", "SpaceX", "Elon Musk", "Hokkaido"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/rapidus-president-considering-building-chip-plant-on-moon-by-around-2040", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/rapidus-president-considering-building-chip-plant-on-moon-by-around-2040.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/rapidus-president-considering-building-chip-plant-on-moon-by-around-2040.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/rapidus-president-considering-building-chip-plant-on-moon-by-around-2040.jsonld"}}