Besxar, a startup, is prototyping an orbital semiconductor factory using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket booster. The company plans to conduct a dozen flights to develop the factory, which will produce key precursors for advanced semiconductors.
The initiative aims to leverage the vacuum of space for manufacturing, arguing it is more cost-effective than creating pressurised clean rooms on Earth. Besxar's founder, Ashley Pilipiszyn, stated that the company has secured almost $14 million in funding, including a $9 million seed round led by Dauntless Ventures and Overture VC.
Besxar's initial two 'fabships', small canisters designed to test semiconductor materials in orbit, flew on a July Starlink mission. These flights successfully demonstrated that the canisters could survive launch, protect wafer samples from contamination, and expose them to the vacuum of space. The company reported that the flown samples were cleaner and had less particulate matter compared to non-flown terrestrial wafers.
The company expects to continue iterating over the next two years, with the goal of eventually flying larger fabs on SpaceX's Starship. Besxar intends to supply leading chipmakers with wafers for advanced chips used in applications such as data centres, robots, and electric vehicles.