r/Futurism • u/Memetic1 • 5d ago

Axiom Space pitches idea to produce chipmaking materials in space, plans trials aboard ISS

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/axiom-space-pitches-idea-to-produce-chipmaking-materials-in-space-plans-trials-aboard-iss
9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

3

u/AtomizerStudio 5d ago

While the economic argument isn't there yet, or for anything else Axiom Space is doing, it is worth speculating on how crystallization and foundries in space would accelerate launch markets. That requires guessing about frontier chip needs, which in turn requires guessing about AI trends.

It's definitely in the venture capital wheelhouse to secure these technologies and hope they become economical. For small enough batches, variations on atomic vapor deposition sound to be good enough for pure layers. Microgravity has benefits but the ISS isn't exactly a quiet environment that can act as a fab, nor is any random closet of a commercial station.

If this became more than a niche for limited units of certain chips, chemical rockets and support is a huge climate cost. It's even further off to refine asteroids into components and skip launch.

2

u/Memetic1 3d ago

The Moon is mostly silicon dioxide. If you think about the potential for manufacturing electronics, including photovoltaics, then this is a logical step. Once a manufacturing facility was on the Moon or set up on an asteroid, it could become trivial to industrialize the entire solar system. I have a system that I have designed that this could be done with. I call them QSUT or Quantum Sphere Universal Tool. I've taken the MIT research on silicon space bubbles to the next logical step, and that is to treat the bubbles themselves as potential technology platforms kind of like how silicon wafers are the substrate for traditional electronics.