Besxar Space Industries, based in Washington, D.C., is developing autonomous manufacturing pods called Fabships. These pods, roughly the size of a microwave oven, are designed to produce ultra-pure semiconductor substrates and precursor materials in the vacuum of space.
The startup utilizes Falcon 9 boosters from SpaceX. The pods are attached to the first-stage booster and spend approximately eight minutes above the Kármán line before returning to Earth. The company focuses on the ultra-high vacuum environment rather than microgravity to create materials for AI chips, quantum computing, and defense.
On July 6, 2026, Besxar completed its first test flight during the Starlink 10-50 mission. Two Clipper Class Fabships were launched alongside 29 Starlink v2 Mini satellites. This initial flight carried terrestrial-manufactured wafers to test if the pods could withstand the forces of launch and re-entry.
Founded in 2023 by former OpenAI employee Ashley Pilipiszyn, the company has a 12-mission agreement with SpaceX, first announced on October 28, 2025. Besxar is supported by NVIDIA's Inception Program and holds a contract with the US Department of Defense.