diff --git a/core/src/components/tab/tab.tsx b/core/src/components/tab/tab.tsx
index a1f6be57a06..e4465bc3ec1 100644
--- a/core/src/components/tab/tab.tsx
+++ b/core/src/components/tab/tab.tsx
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ import type { ComponentRef, FrameworkDelegate } from '../../interface';
   shadow: true,
 })
 export class Tab implements ComponentInterface {
-  private loaded = false;
+  private loadPromise?: Promise<HTMLElement | undefined>;
+
   @Element() el!: HTMLIonTabElement;
 
   /** @internal */
@@ -57,20 +58,31 @@ export class Tab implements ComponentInterface {
   @Watch('active')
   changeActive(isActive: boolean) {
     if (isActive) {
-      this.prepareLazyLoaded();
+      this.prepareLazyLoaded().catch((e) => {
+        printIonError('[ion-tab] - Exception in prepareLazyLoaded:', e);
+      });
     }
   }
 
   private prepareLazyLoaded(): Promise<HTMLElement | undefined> {
-    if (!this.loaded && this.component != null) {
-      this.loaded = true;
-      try {
-        return attachComponent(this.delegate, this.el, this.component, ['ion-page']);
-      } catch (e) {
-        printIonError('[ion-tab] - Exception in prepareLazyLoaded:', e);
-      }
+    if (this.component == null) {
+      return Promise.resolve(undefined);
     }
-    return Promise.resolve(undefined);
+
+    /**
+     * The attach is cached so that concurrent activations share a single
+     * attempt and later activations reuse the result. The cache is cleared
+     * only when the attach fails, so a tab whose component failed to load
+     * can be retried the next time it is activated.
+     */
+    if (this.loadPromise === undefined) {
+      this.loadPromise = attachComponent(this.delegate, this.el, this.component, ['ion-page']).catch((e) => {
+        this.loadPromise = undefined;
+        throw e;
+      });
+    }
+
+    return this.loadPromise;
   }
 
   render() {
diff --git a/core/src/components/tab/test/tab.spec.ts b/core/src/components/tab/test/tab.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d08791a8a25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/components/tab/test/tab.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+import { newSpecPage } from '@stencil/core/testing';
+
+import type { FrameworkDelegate } from '../../../interface';
+import { Tab } from '../tab';
+
+const mockDelegate = (attachViewToDom: FrameworkDelegate['attachViewToDom']): FrameworkDelegate => ({
+  attachViewToDom,
+  removeViewFromDom: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+});
+
+const createTab = async (html = '<ion-tab tab="home" component="ion-content"></ion-tab>') => {
+  const page = await newSpecPage({
+    components: [Tab],
+    html,
+  });
+
+  return { page, tabEl: page.body.querySelector<HTMLIonTabElement>('ion-tab')! };
+};
+
+describe('ion-tab: lazy loading', () => {
+  it('should attach the component only once across multiple setActive calls', async () => {
+    const { tabEl } = await createTab();
+    const attachViewToDom = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(document.createElement('div'));
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+    await tabEl.setActive();
+    await tabEl.setActive();
+
+    expect(attachViewToDom).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('should share one attach attempt across concurrent setActive calls', async () => {
+    const { tabEl } = await createTab();
+    const attachViewToDom = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(document.createElement('div'));
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+    await Promise.all([tabEl.setActive(), tabEl.setActive()]);
+
+    expect(attachViewToDom).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('should make a later setActive wait for the in-flight attach', async () => {
+    const { tabEl } = await createTab();
+    let resolveAttach!: (el: HTMLElement) => void;
+    const attachViewToDom = jest.fn(() => new Promise<HTMLElement>((resolve) => (resolveAttach = resolve)));
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+    const first = tabEl.setActive();
+    const second = tabEl.setActive();
+    let secondSettled = false;
+    second.then(() => (secondSettled = true));
+
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 0));
+
+    expect(secondSettled).toBe(false);
+
+    resolveAttach(document.createElement('div'));
+    await Promise.all([first, second]);
+
+    expect(secondSettled).toBe(true);
+    expect(attachViewToDom).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('should retry the attach after a failed first attempt', async () => {
+    const { tabEl } = await createTab();
+    const attachViewToDom = jest
+      .fn()
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('attach failed'))
+      .mockResolvedValue(document.createElement('div'));
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+    await expect(tabEl.setActive()).rejects.toThrow('attach failed');
+    await expect(tabEl.setActive()).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+
+    expect(attachViewToDom).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it('should not activate the tab when the attach fails', async () => {
+    const { tabEl } = await createTab();
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(jest.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('attach failed')));
+
+    await expect(tabEl.setActive()).rejects.toThrow('attach failed');
+
+    expect(tabEl.active).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('should activate the tab once a retried attach succeeds', async () => {
+    const { page, tabEl } = await createTab();
+    const attachViewToDom = jest
+      .fn()
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('attach failed'))
+      .mockResolvedValue(document.createElement('div'));
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+    await expect(tabEl.setActive()).rejects.toThrow('attach failed');
+    await tabEl.setActive();
+    await page.waitForChanges();
+
+    expect(attachViewToDom).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(tabEl.active).toBe(true);
+    expect(tabEl.classList.contains('tab-hidden')).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('should attach the component when the tab starts active', async () => {
+    const { page, tabEl } = await createTab('<ion-tab tab="home" component="ion-content" active="true"></ion-tab>');
+
+    await page.waitForChanges();
+
+    expect(tabEl.querySelector('ion-content.ion-page')).not.toBeNull();
+    expect(tabEl.classList.contains('tab-hidden')).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('should not attach anything when no component is provided', async () => {
+    const { tabEl } = await createTab('<ion-tab tab="home"></ion-tab>');
+    const attachViewToDom = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(document.createElement('div'));
+    tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+    await expect(tabEl.setActive()).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+
+    expect(attachViewToDom).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(tabEl.active).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  describe('when the attach fails on the active watcher path', () => {
+    let consoleErrorSpy: jest.SpyInstance;
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      consoleErrorSpy = jest.spyOn(console, 'error');
+      // Suppress console.error output from polluting the test output
+      consoleErrorSpy.mockImplementation(() => {});
+    });
+
+    afterEach(() => {
+      consoleErrorSpy.mockRestore();
+    });
+
+    // Jest fails a test on an unhandled rejection, so the watcher swallowing the
+    // rejection is covered without an explicit unhandledRejection listener.
+    it('should log the error', async () => {
+      const { page, tabEl } = await createTab();
+      tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(jest.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('attach failed')));
+
+      // ion-tabs activates a tab by setting `active`, it does not await setActive().
+      tabEl.active = true;
+      await page.waitForChanges();
+      // Give the rejected attach a turn to settle so the watcher can log it.
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 0));
+
+      expect(consoleErrorSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        '[Ionic Error]: [ion-tab] - Exception in prepareLazyLoaded:',
+        expect.any(Error)
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('should retry on the next activation, as ion-tabs reactivates tabs', async () => {
+      const { page, tabEl } = await createTab();
+      const attachViewToDom = jest
+        .fn()
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('attach failed'))
+        .mockImplementation(() => {
+          const el = document.createElement('div');
+          el.classList.add('attached-page');
+          tabEl.appendChild(el);
+          return Promise.resolve(el);
+        });
+      tabEl.delegate = mockDelegate(attachViewToDom);
+
+      tabEl.active = true;
+      await page.waitForChanges();
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 0));
+
+      expect(tabEl.querySelector('.attached-page')).toBeNull();
+
+      // ion-tabs deactivates the leaving tab, so returning to it is a false -> true change.
+      tabEl.active = false;
+      await page.waitForChanges();
+      tabEl.active = true;
+      await page.waitForChanges();
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 0));
+
+      expect(attachViewToDom).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+      expect(tabEl.querySelector('.attached-page')).not.toBeNull();
+    });
+  });
+});