Elon Musk’s SpaceX asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing off the island, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents.
A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet products said SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam.
A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers on the island said suppliers were directly asked by SpaceX to transfer manufacturing abroad.
Chin-Poon Industrial, a satellite component maker which said it was recently a SpaceX supplier, told Reuters the US company requested they move their manufacturing from Taiwan to Thailand for new orders “mostly due to geopolitical considerations”. It did not elaborate.
The sources declined to be identified because the information was not public. SpaceX did not reply to requests for comment.
