Besxar tests chipmaking materials in space using SpaceX Falcon 9

In short: Besxar says it is testing early chipmaking steps in orbit by flying small “fabships” on SpaceX Falcon 9 missions.

What happened

Besxar is a startup founded by former OpenAI staffer Ashley Pilipiszyn. The company wants to make key early materials for advanced semiconductors, also called chips (the tiny parts that help control electricity in phones, cars, and data centers). It says the vacuum of space could help keep chip materials cleaner, without the expensive clean rooms used on Earth.

Besxar says it has arranged to prototype its idea across about a dozen flights using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket booster. Falcon 9 boosters fly to space and return often, which could make repeated testing easier than waiting for a spot on the International Space Station.

The company’s first two “fabships” were small canisters flown on a July Starlink mission. Besxar says the goal was to prove the canisters could survive launch, keep wafer samples clean (a wafer is a thin disk used to build chips, like a blank canvas), and expose them to the vacuum of space. Besxar said it met these goals, even though one canister had a problem with its flight data system.

Besxar has raised almost $14 million, including a $9 million seed round led by Dauntless Ventures and Overture VC. Next, the company plans to do more complex steps, like heating wafers and adding one material layer at a time (like carefully painting a surface in thin coats).

Why it matters

Chips power many everyday products, but making them is costly and sensitive to dust. If space testing leads to cleaner materials and if rockets become cheap enough to bring products back in larger amounts, it could add a new option for parts of chip manufacturing.

Source: TechCrunch AI