Besxar is building an orbital semiconductor factory, one SpaceX rocket at a time
Startup Besxar is partnering with SpaceX to prototype a semiconductor manufacturing facility in orbit. By utilizing the vacuum of space, the company aims to bypass the need for expensive, pressurized clean rooms required on Earth.
Why it matters
This represents a potential shift in semiconductor supply chains, leveraging space-based physics to reduce infrastructure costs for high-end chip production.
If you want to manufacture in space—and bring the products back again—there’s a limited set of options: Wait to go to the International Space Station, or partner with a handful of start-ups launching spacecraft that spend time in orbit before they return to Earth.
But the vehicle that goes to space and comes back to Earth more often than any other is a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster, which made that round-trip 163 times last year and has already flown more than 100 times this year. Now, a startup says it has talked Elon Musk’s space company into letting it prototype an orbital semiconductor factory across a dozen flights with the booster.
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