Satellite 'space factory' could create advanced tech that slashes bill

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A company started by “two blokes in a Cardiff garage” is about to launch a game-changing space factory that could start a new industrial revolution.

Space Forge will ship its prototype manufacturing satellite in the coming weeks from an industrial park in the city to the US, where it will be sent into orbit on a SpaceX rocket.

Sky News was given exclusive access to the company’s dust-free ‘clean room’ to watch engineers carry out final checks.

ForgeStar-1 is already loaded up with the raw ingredients to make a new generation of super-efficient semiconductor chips that would be impossible to produce on the planet’s surface.

Joshua Western, the company’s co-founder, said: “This is the next industrial revolution but it’s in space, it’s not on Earth.”

Semiconductors are found in almost all electronic technology. They’re currently made from silicon crystals, but the material has a performance ceiling.

However, in the microgravity and vacuum of space it’s possible to make crystals from a new mix of chemical compounds that would allow computer chips to work faster while consuming less power.

“We’re able to reduce the energy consumed where they get deployed by more than 50%,” Joshua said.

“In the UK alone, we’re talking billions of pounds being saved in the energy bill alone.

“That’s in terms of consumer mobile data, but also data applications that are really (energy) hungry – artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and all the way down to people using ChatGPT at home.”