Space Forge launches semiconductor factory in space

Space Forge just turned on a factory in space.

Not a science experiment bolted to a space station.

A free-flying satellite running a 1,000°C plasma furnace by itself while circling Earth.

The Cardiff company, Space Forge, confirmed its ForgeStar-1 satellite successfully generated plasma in low Earth orbit. That matters because plasma is the hard part.

This launch can build confidence bring us a step closer in launching data centers in space.

If you can ignite and control it autonomously in microgravity, you can run real gas-phase crystal growth. That is the step that determines whether advanced semiconductors are mediocre or world-class.

ForgeStar-1 is not docked to the ISS. No astronauts. No joystick from Houston. The satellite runs itself. It heats a furnace to around 1,000 degrees Celsius and creates the conditions needed to grow ultra-pure crystals for materials like gallium nitride, silicon carbide, aluminium nitride, and diamond. They sit inside power electronics, radar, 5G and 6G systems, quantum devices, and defence hardware.

This first mission will burn up on re-entry. It is a proving run. The company’s real plan is to grow seed crystals in orbit and return them to Earth so existing fabs can scale them using today’s supply chains.

The disruption behind the news: Space could one day drastically lower semiconductor costs.

The semiconductor industry has spent decades fighting physics.

Gravity causes convection.

Air causes contamination.

Vibration causes defects.

Every incremental improvement on Earth costs billions in cleaner rooms, tighter controls, and lower yields. Space removes entire categories of problems at once.

Microgravity changes crystal growth dynamics completely. Without gravity interfering, they form more evenly, with fewer flaws, which leads to better-performing materials. That is not a marginal gain.

For power electronics and RF systems, a few percent improvement in material quality can translate into double-digit efficiency gains or thermal headroom that eliminates entire cooling systems.

You do not need to manufacture chips in orbit. You only need to make better starting material. If a space-grown seed improves yield on Earth by even 5 to 10 percent, it just paid for the launch.

Launch costs have already fallen below the threshold where this math works, especially for high-value substrates that sell for thousands per wafer.

This also rewrites geopolitical risk. Advanced semiconductor materials are a chokepoint. Orbital production isn’t tied to one country, one power grid, or one set of rules. That makes it very attractive to defense and infrastructure buyers who value reliability more than low cost.

Most importantly, this scales in the background. No new fab permits. No community opposition. No billion-dollar cleanroom shells. Just more satellites. Space has been on fire lately and this fire keeps on burning.

What to watch next

First, recovery missions.

The real proof comes when Space Forge brings crystals back and independent labs verify performance gains. Expect that within 12 to 24 months.

Second, customer pull.

Watch for defense primes, power electronics firms, and quantum hardware startups locking in early supply agreements. They will not issue press releases. They will just out-perform competitors.

Third, cost curves.

The inflection point is not launch cost alone. It is autonomous operations. ForgeStar-1 showed that these systems can run without humans. Every software update compounds margins.

Finally, regulation.

Once orbital manufacturing proves strategic value, governments will move fast. Export controls, licensing, and orbital traffic rules will follow.

Space Forge factory is about who controls the quality layer of the materials. Companies that ignore orbital materials today might end up buying from their competitors tomorrow. And at whatever price they are given.