Space and defence firm Aegis Aerospace is partnering with United Semiconductors LLC to attempt to manufacture semiconductor materials in space.

Semiconductor manufacturing is famously complicated, relying on a global supply chain and a whole host of expensive and specialized equipment. All of this currently takes place on Earth.

Aegis and United Semiconductors will be attempting to manufacture “essential” semiconductor materials in LEO, or low Earth orbit, taking advantage of its “microgravity environment.”

Although these materials went unnamed, it is of note that United Semiconductor specializes in the production of ternary and binary III-V semiconductor compounds used in microelectronic and optoelectronic products.

Founded in 2021, Aegis Aerospace offers space services and product development for civil and commercial space and defence industries.

Last year, the company was awarded a $10 million grant from the Texas Space Commission for its plan to deliver a space manufacturing platform for advanced materials.

United Semiconductors also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UK-based space company Space Forge in October of last year. The pair are looking to produce semiconductor crystals with a higher uniformity of size and structure.

There have been talks of putting AI-related infrastructure, like data centers, in space.

Companies, including Amazon, SpaceX, and Google, have publicly made predictions and discussed plans about putting gigawatts worth of computing capacity in space.

Smaller companies like Axiom Space, NTT, Ramon.Space, and Sophia Space, are also currently pursuing that goal.