Besxar is building an orbital semiconductor factory, one SpaceX rocket at a time
techcrunch ·
Startup Besxar is developing an orbital semiconductor factory and has partnered with SpaceX to test its technology on Falcon 9 booster flights. Founded by former OpenAI staffer Ashley Pilipiszyn, the company has raised nearly $14 million to exploit the vacuum of space as a cleaner alternative to Earth-based clean rooms. Its first two test canisters, called 'fabships,' flew on a July Starlink mission and successfully protected wafer samples from contamination. The flown samples showed less particulate matter than non-flown terrestrial wafers, according to Pilipiszyn. Besxar plans to iterate further by heating wafers and depositing materials, with the eventual goal of using larger vehicles like SpaceX's Starship. The company aims to supply chipmakers with wafers for advanced semiconductors used in data centers, robots, and electric vehicles. However, scaling to hundreds or thousands of wafers per fab will depend on cheap rockets and the ability to return product to Earth.
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