The plan to manufacture the purest semiconductors in the world is to go to space
While the United States and China tense their relationships with Taiwan chips factories in the center of the dispute, a Welsh Startup has been getting allies To manufacture semiconductors in orbit. The objective: to achieve an impossible quality to replicate on Earth. Context. The geopolitics of semiconductors is possibly one of the largest headaches for world powers. Europe imports 80% of the chips you need, and 90% of the most advanced It comes from Taiwan. An climb of tension in the region could have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, the search for a resilient supply chain is a strategic priority. The solution, paradoxically, may not be on earth. This is where it enters Space Forgean Aerospace Company based in Cardiff that is developing reusable satellites to manufacture semiconductors and other advanced materials in orbit. Manufacture chips in space. Why go so far for something so small? The answer is in physics. Vacuum and microgravity They are ideal conditions for the development of ultrapurus crystalsthe base of any semiconductor. On earth, gravity introduces tiny imperfections and defects in the crystalline structure of the materials during their formation. NASA He has been studying for decades The advantages of manufacturing in space. Gravity causes phenomena such as convection and sedimentation of molten materials, which prevents a homogeneous distribution of components and generates defects. In space, these problems disappear. Materials are formed more perfectly, which translates into higher quality chips, more efficient and lower energy consumption. The first satellite. Space Force believes that glass “seeds” can occur in space 10 times pure That anyone found on Earth, which would result in semiconductors with a hundredth of the defects. Less defects implies less waste, greater performance and, ultimately, more powerful and efficient devices. But how much of promise and what about reality? The company has already put its first manufacturing satellite, the Forgestar-1. Successfully released in June 2025 On board a spacex rocket, this satellite, developed entirely in Wales, is the first British spacecraft sent to space with the purpose of producing new materials. It is a first demonstration mission: it will prove that the appropriate environment for space can be created and some production techniques will validate. NATO is knocking on the door. Space Forge got 30 million dollars In its first financing round, the largest series for a space technology in the United Kingdom. The most significant is Who leads The investment: NIF, the NATO Innovation Fund. The NIF highlighted “the independence of the long -term supply and resilience” chain as one of the reasons to invest in the startup. This capital injection will accelerate the development of the Forgestar-2, the next generation of its returnable manufacturing satellite. Microgravity as a service. The potential of microgravity manufacturing goes beyond semiconductors. Metal alloys can be impossible to mix on the earth or new compound materials. The pharmaceutical industry could also benefit greatly, with improvements in the useful life of medicines and administration methods. Space Forge aspires to a business model of “microgravadad-asservice“, an idea that somehow remembers the Arm licenses model. Instead of selling chips, it will rent spaces in its” orbital factories “so that others produce their own materials. In Xataka | Manufacturing materials for space is fine. Manufacturing materials in space is much better because everything changes
