Musk Asks Suppliers to Move at ‘Light Speed’ on New Chipmaking Plan

Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers including Applied Materials Inc., Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Lam Research Corp. for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips.

Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc. and SpaceX have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to be named disclosing private discussions.