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Intel Corp., one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, has spent the past several years quietly developing a processor for satellites as the company looks to tap growing demand for onboard artificial intelligence and data processing in a market long served by specialized aerospace chip makers.
The processor, still undergoing testing, is designed for resilient, high-power performance in space — an environment too harsh and unforgiving for most hardware.
In an interview, Sean O’Neill, deputy director of product development at Intel Government Technologies, said the chip is expected to be initially available to customers by the end of the year. Intel Government Technologies, the business unit focused on the federal market, posted a fact sheet in July on the new processor, called Starfire.
Intel has not disclosed how much it spent developing Starfire, but O’Neill said the work was funded internally, underscoring the company’s belief that space computing is becoming a market worth pursuing. “We have skin in the game,” he said.
The company concluded that the United States government’s growing emphasis on space as a critical domain of national security, coupled with the expansion of commercial satellite constellations, has created a market large enough to justify adapting commercial semiconductor technology for orbit, said O’Neill.
“We took a hard look to see how we could support the government’s space technology, given their strategic shift to space,” O’Neill told SpaceNews. “We realized Intel has the majority of the capabilities necessary to develop space-grade technology in-house.”
Intel is not new to government and aerospace computing, but Starfire marks a more direct push into the market for processors designed to operate aboard spacecraft.
Space presents challenges that commercial processors are not typically designed to withstand. Electronics in orbit must operate through years of exposure to radiation that can corrupt data or damage circuitry, while enduring repeated thermal cycling as spacecraft move between sunlight and darkness. Those demands have historically pushed satellite manufacturers toward older, lower performance processors because qualifying newer chips for space can take years.
Intel said Starfire is intended to fill that gap by adapting a modern commercial system-on-chip architecture for the space environment. The company says the processor incorporates hardware and software features intended to mitigate radiation effects and is designed for missions lasting more than a decade.
A system-on-chip, or SoC, combines several computing functions in a single package. Unlike traditional satellite computers that may rely on separate chips for different tasks, Starfire integrates a central processing unit with graphics, neural and image processing capabilities, O’Neill said. That would allow spacecraft to perform more sophisticated AI workloads while reducing the size, weight and power required onboard.
System-on-chip technology has become standard across the commercial semiconductor industry, used in products ranging from smartphones to AI-enabled edge devices. Bringing that level of integration to space hardware has been more difficult because the processors also must survive radiation, temperature swings and other harsh conditions encountered in orbit.
More onboard computing
For much of the space age, satellites primarily collected data and transmitted it to Earth for analysis. That model has changed. Commercial Earth observation companies are building spacecraft that can analyze imagery before downlinking it. Military satellite constellations are being designed to fuse information from multiple sensors, identify targets, support autonomous operations and route data across distributed networks in near real time.
Intel is not entering a static market. Established space electronics suppliers are moving toward more capable onboard processors as satellites take on AI, autonomy and real-time data processing. BAE Systems makes radiation-hardened processors for national security spacecraft using a system-on-chip architecture. Microchip, another space electronics supplier, is developing NASA’s High-Performance Spaceflight Computing processor, which the agency says is intended to provide greater computational capacity for spaceflight computers. AMD is marketing space-grade Versal adaptive SoCs for satellites that require machine learning and high-throughput processing. Several European suppliers are pushing radiation hardened processors for space and defense applications.
“We believe there is a universal need for advanced processing that operates reliably in space,” O’Neill said. “As the space sector continues to grow, we believe we can support both the government’s space technology needs and the commercial space technology needs.”
Intel will offer two versions of the processor. A low-power model, intended for spacecraft with tighter energy budgets, will operate at less than 10 watts. A second, higher performance version will consume more power in exchange for greater processing capability.
The company is marketing Starfire for operations in the harsh environment of space, although the processor is still completing its radiation qualification campaign. O’Neill said Intel expects to finish radiation testing and characterization before the end of the third quarter. Early results have been encouraging, he said, but the company will not characterize the processor’s radiation survivability until the testing is complete.
Intel is also seeking flight opportunities amid the commercial rollout. O’Neill said the company is in discussions with multiple U.S. government agencies about flying Starfire on an experimental mission later this year, although no demonstration has been confirmed.
Domestic production strategy
While Starfire incorporates components manufactured by multiple suppliers, O’Neill said Intel has established a domestic assembly, screening and qualification process for the processor. Some individual components will be produced overseas, but all will be assembled, screened and qualified in the U.S. to meet space-grade standards and reduce supply chain risk for customers.
Intel’s largest domestic manufacturing presence includes the 700-acre Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, which houses five fabrication plants.
By drawing on its commercial manufacturing experience, O’Neill said, the company expects to shorten lead times compared with many existing space-grade processing units, where component shortages can delay satellite programs.
That strategy comes as Washington is pressing to expand the U.S. semiconductor industrial base and reduce reliance on overseas manufacturing.
A bipartisan bill introduced in June would clarify that semiconductor manufacturing in low Earth orbit qualifies for federal tax incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act. The proposal has not become law, and Starfire is not manufactured in space. But the legislation illustrates how lawmakers are looking beyond conventional fabrication plants toward emerging production technologies as the U.S. competes with China for leadership in advanced chips.
Intel’s domestic supply chain strategy also comes amid broader federal efforts to expand U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. In August 2025, the Trump administration announced an agreement to invest $8.9 billion in Intel for a 9.9% passive stake, using previously awarded CHIPS Act and Pentagon funds. The arrangement would not give the government a board seat or governance rights, but it reflects Intel’s role in efforts to increase domestic chip production capacity and provide trusted semiconductors for national security applications.
The Defense Department has made trusted microelectronics a priority as military systems become increasingly dependent on advanced semiconductors, seeking to reduce reliance on overseas manufacturing for technologies supporting missile defense, intelligence, communications and other national security missions.
Targeting all spacecraft
Intel sees the growing small satellite sector as an early market for Starfire but is positioning the processor for a broader range of government and commercial spacecraft.
“We believe Starfire would be a strong candidate for any platform that operates in space,” O’Neill said, adding that Intel intends to work closely with satellite manufacturers to tailor the processor to individual mission requirements rather than simply selling hardware. The challenge for spacecraft designers, he said, is balancing computing demands against the strict size, weight and power limitations that constrain every satellite.
Operators want more onboard processing, but spacecraft developers cannot simply add hardware because each additional component consumes power, generates heat and adds mass. NASA and European Space Agency assessments have identified integrated avionics and system-on-chip designs as a way to reduce size, mass and power demands while increasing onboard computing capability. Intel is making the same case for Starfire, arguing that combining multiple processing engines in one package can help satellite builders add computing power without exceeding the constraints that govern spacecraft design.
O’Neill said the processor is designed to handle routine spacecraft functions such as telemetry, command sequencing, data compression and autonomous scheduling while also supporting AI workloads such as image analytics, object detection, anomaly detection, sensor fusion, predictive maintenance and onboard system health monitoring.
Intel plans to provide engineering support throughout the integration process. Customers will receive environmental qualification data, including radiation, vibration and thermal test results, along with software documentation and technical support to incorporate Starfire into new spacecraft designs.
“We don’t want to be a component vendor,” O’Neill said. “We want to be partners.”
Intel declined to identify prospective customers but said it has signed partnership agreements with multiple government organizations and channel partners and expects to announce some of those relationships in the future.
The company’s biggest challenge may be persuading spacecraft manufacturers to move away from legacy processor architectures they have relied on for years. Space companies often favor components with long flight histories and established software ecosystems, even when newer technology offers higher performance.
“Legacy space technology of yesterday is not going to accomplish the missions of tomorrow,” O’Neill said.
Starfire will run Ubuntu Linux and come with supported software tools and regular updates, he said, giving developers a familiar environment for building applications or moving existing software onto the processor.
O’Neill said Intel sees Starfire’s use of the company’s x86 architecture — the long-established instruction set behind many PCs and servers — as an advantage because developers are already familiar with its software tools. That could make it easier for customers to build applications for Starfire or move compatible software to the chip, though any spacecraft software would still require testing and qualification before flight.
This article will also be published in the August 2026 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.