diff --git a/src/text-editor-component.js b/src/text-editor-component.js
index 3619d3221..52e4f054e 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-component.js
+++ b/src/text-editor-component.js
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@ const etch = require('etch')
 const {CompositeDisposable} = require('event-kit')
 const {Point} = require('text-buffer')
 const resizeDetector = require('element-resize-detector')({strategy: 'scroll'})
-const TextEditorElement = require('./text-editor-element')
+const TextEditor = require('./text-editor')
 const {isPairedCharacter} = require('./text-utils')
 const $ = etch.dom
 
+let TextEditorElement
+
 const DEFAULT_ROWS_PER_TILE = 6
 const NORMAL_WIDTH_CHARACTER = 'x'
 const DOUBLE_WIDTH_CHARACTER = '我'
@@ -17,7 +19,12 @@ module.exports =
 class TextEditorComponent {
   constructor (props) {
     this.props = props
-    this.element = props.element || new TextEditorElement()
+    if (props.element) {
+      this.element = props.element
+    } else {
+      if (!TextEditorElement) TextEditorElement = require('./text-editor-element')
+      this.element = new TextEditorElement()
+    }
     this.element.initialize(this)
     this.virtualNode = $('atom-text-editor')
     this.virtualNode.domNode = this.element
@@ -1154,7 +1161,6 @@ class TextEditorComponent {
 
   getModel () {
     if (!this.props.model) {
-      const TextEditor = require('./text-editor')
       this.props.model = new TextEditor()
       this.observeModel()
     }
diff --git a/src/text-editor.coffee b/src/text-editor.coffee
index c54ad0138..b826250f3 100644
--- a/src/text-editor.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor.coffee
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Model = require './model'
 Selection = require './selection'
 TextMateScopeSelector = require('first-mate').ScopeSelector
 GutterContainer = require './gutter-container'
-TextEditorComponent = require './text-editor-component'
+TextEditorComponent = null
 {isDoubleWidthCharacter, isHalfWidthCharacter, isKoreanCharacter, isWrapBoundary} = require './text-utils'
 
 ZERO_WIDTH_NBSP = '\ufeff'
@@ -3547,6 +3547,7 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
 
   # Get the Element for the editor.
   getElement: ->
+    TextEditorComponent ?= require('./text-editor-component')
     new TextEditorComponent({model: this})
     @component.element