A UK startup is taking a major step toward building semiconductors beyond Earth. Space Forge says it has successfully generated plasma in low Earth orbit (LEO) on its ForgeStar-1 satellite, a crucial milestone for commercial in-space manufacturing and a potential foundation for producing next-generation semiconductor materials in microgravity.
The test focused on proving that ForgeStar-1 can create and maintain the extreme heat needed for advanced crystal growth. According to the company, its compact, microwave-oven-sized manufacturing furnace produced microwave-induced plasma reaching temperatures of up to 1000°C (1832°F). This matters because gas-phase crystal growth processes require stable, intense thermal conditions—something that’s difficult to sustain in space without the right hardware and control systems.
Although ForgeStar-1 launched in June 2025 on SpaceX’s Transporter-14 rideshare mission, the plasma demonstration was completed in December 2025. Space Forge remotely operated the satellite from its mission operations center in Cardiff, Wales, showing that these manufacturing conditions can be triggered, managed, and monitored from the ground.
Space Forge positions this achievement as a proof point for producing high-value semiconductor materials in microgravity, including gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), with the possibility of diamond-based substrates in the future. These materials are widely used in power electronics and high-performance computing, and they’re increasingly important across applications like AI accelerators, electric vehicles, and emerging mobile and networking hardware.
The company also claims that materials made in microgravity could deliver up to 60% better energy efficiency, potentially translating into cooler, more efficient, and higher-performing electronics. That said, these performance gains have not yet been independently verified, and broad commercial validation will likely take time.
ForgeStar-1 is intended as a technology demonstration platform rather than a full production system. It is not designed to return to Earth and is expected to deorbit in a controlled manner in 2026 after completing additional experiments, including further work on plasma behavior and re-entry-related systems. The mission’s results will feed into the next spacecraft, ForgeStar-2, which Space Forge plans to equip with a Pridwen heat shield designed to bring manufactured materials back to Earth.
While large-scale semiconductor production in orbit is still years away, generating plasma on a dedicated commercial satellite is a tangible step toward making in-space manufacturing practical. Over the long term, systems like these could complement Earth-based semiconductor manufacturing by supplying extremely high-quality seed crystals or specialized materials that are difficult to create under normal gravity—potentially easing constraints in advanced chip and power device supply chains as demand continues to surge.
