President of Japanese semiconductor company Rapidus: Seriously considering building a wafer fab on the moon in 2040

Atsuyoshi Koike, president and CEO of Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Rapidus, stated on the 10th that he is seriously considering building a semiconductor factory on the moon around 2040. One of the reasons is that the moon has water resources needed for chip production.

"This is not a joke, this is a serious plan, and I'm thinking about maybe 2040," he said at an event held by the US think tank "Hudson Institute" in Washington.

Junyoshi Koike, who is seeking to establish local production of the next generation of semiconductors, showed the audience an AI-generated video depicting a wafer fab on the surface of the moon. "This is something Musk would definitely like. He is planning to start a business of sending people and cargo to the moon," he said, prompting laughter.

Arvind Krishna, CEO of the American technology giant IBM, also attended the event. IBM is providing Rapidus technical support to assist the Japanese company in mass production of the 2nm process at its Hokkaido plant. Krishna said that IBM and Rapidus are also jointly developing more advanced chips at the 1-nanometer level.

Koike said in July that once mass production capabilities are achieved, Rapidus's advanced semiconductor prices will be the same as TSMC's, or even lower.

He said that the company is making every effort to move towards the mass production of 2nm chips in 2027. The future foundry price target is set at 3 million to 3.5 million yen per piece (approximately NT$618,000 to 720,000 NT$). He made it clear and bluntly that since Rapidus is a rising star in the market, it "cannot lose to TSMC" in terms of wafer foundry pricing strategy.