IN Brief:
- DARPA ERIS has assessed Space Forge’s microgravity semiconductor manufacturing proposal as Awardable.
- The concept targets ultra-wide-bandgap materials for RF, power electronics, quantum systems, and other demanding applications.
- Awardable status enables government engagement through the ERIS Marketplace but does not itself represent a funded DARPA contract.
Space Forge has been assessed as Awardable through the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Expedited Research Innovation System Marketplace for a proposal focused on manufacturing advanced semiconductor materials in microgravity.
The designation applies to Space Forge’s “Microgravity Semiconductor Manufacturing: Enabling Extreme Performance Electronics” proposal. Authorised US government users can now review the submission through the ERIS Marketplace and engage with the company about potential applications or follow-on work.
Awardable status does not constitute a DARPA contract or funded programme. Space Forge has not announced an associated contract value, delivery schedule, or government procurement. The milestone instead establishes that the proposal has passed the marketplace assessment needed to enter discussions through the ERIS route.
The semiconductor programme centres on materials that could support ultra-wide-bandgap devices for radio-frequency systems, power electronics, quantum technology, and other electronics operating under high electrical, thermal, frequency, or environmental stress.
Wide-bandgap materials already underpin commercial silicon carbide and gallium nitride devices, where high breakdown fields and favourable switching characteristics can improve power conversion or RF performance. Ultra-wide-bandgap materials extend those material properties further, although wafer quality, defect density, process maturity, substrate size, and cost remain barriers to large-scale device manufacturing.
Space Forge is developing microgravity as an alternative production environment for selected semiconductor materials. Its process concept uses the reduced convection and other physical conditions available in orbit to support crystal growth and materials production before returning the resulting material to Earth for conventional characterisation, processing, and device development.
The company’s ForgeStar platform is being developed to provide the spacecraft, manufacturing environment, and eventual return system required for repeated production missions. ForgeStar-1 launched in June 2025 and has since been used to validate spacecraft operation and materials-related subsystems rather than to deliver commercial semiconductor material back to Earth.
Terrestrial processing is developing in parallel. Space Forge selected the Texas A&M University System in August as the base for its first US semiconductor materials manufacturing and processing capability. The agreement provides access to cleanrooms, materials processing, characterisation equipment, and research infrastructure while the orbital manufacturing platform continues to mature.
That Texas programme concentrates initially on material growth, processing, and measurement on Earth. It gives Space Forge a route to compare conventional and microgravity-derived materials using established semiconductor infrastructure rather than treating orbital production as a self-contained manufacturing process.
The DARPA marketplace proposal adds a defence and national-security route to the same technology base. High-power RF systems, sensing, communications, power conversion, and electronics used in harsh environments can place demanding requirements on semiconductor breakdown field, heat handling, frequency response, and material quality.
Material properties alone will not determine whether an orbital manufacturing route becomes commercially useful. Returned material still has to demonstrate repeatable crystal quality, acceptable defect levels, compatibility with device-processing flows, useful wafer dimensions, and an economic advantage large enough to offset launch and recovery costs.
The public ERIS announcement does not identify the specific ultra-wide-bandgap compounds being proposed, substrate dimensions, expected defect-density improvement, manufacturing throughput, or target qualification programme. The detailed video submission is restricted to authorised government users.
That leaves the current development at an evaluation stage rather than a production milestone. Space Forge has established an operational spacecraft platform, is building terrestrial semiconductor processing capability in the United States, and now has an assessed proposal available to government customers through ERIS.
Connecting those elements will require material grown in orbit to return to Earth, enter established semiconductor characterisation and processing flows, and show a reproducible advantage against terrestrial alternatives. The DARPA marketplace status creates another route through which that evidence can be examined as the programme moves from spacecraft and process development towards qualified semiconductor materials.
