The investment and SpaceX's role
Samsung Electronics intends to expand its Austin facility in Texas to enter the aerospace supply chain. According to a report by South Korean newspaper Seoul Economic Daily, republished by IT之家, the company will invest $19 billion to produce STM32V8 microcontrollers for SpaceX's Starlink satellites, with the goal of starting operations by 2030.
The STM32V8 microcontroller was introduced by STMicroelectronics in November 2025. It uses an 18-nanometer FD-SOI process (fully depleted silicon on insulator), integrates an Arm Cortex-M85 core and reaches a maximum frequency of 800 MHz. FD-SOI technology, developed by Samsung and STMicroelectronics starting in 2014, inserts a very thin insulating layer between the silicon and the substrate to limit leakage currents, allowing it to maintain good computing capabilities with reduced power consumption: a characteristic suited to contexts where power supply and heat dissipation are limited, such as space, automotive and industry.
According to the material, the chip is already used in miniaturized laser link systems between Starlink satellites in low orbit. Michael Nicolls, vice president of engineering at Starlink, said that the component's computing performance and integrated memory are essential to meeting real-time processing requirements.
Production and the subsidy framework
Currently, the STM32V8 is produced mainly at STMicroelectronics' French plant in Crolles on 300-millimeter wafers, with participation from Samsung Foundry. The Austin expansion would serve to shift part of the production capacity to the United States.
According to Chips Act program documents published by NIST, Samsung's investment plan in Texas includes two sites: the Taylor factory, intended for the production of advanced AI chips with 2-nanometer logic lines and research facilities, and the existing Austin plant, focused on aerospace and industrial chips with processes ranging from 65 to 14 nanometers.
The expansion is among the FD-SOI projects covered by the Chips Act. Department of Commerce materials indicate a total investment by Samsung of more than $37 billion across Taylor and Austin, against direct grants of up to $4.745 billion. Austin's FD-SOI capacity is explicitly directed at sectors considered critical, such as aerospace, defense and automotive.
One more customer for Austin
The Austin plant had already received orders related to AI chips from customers such as Tesla, Nvidia and AMD. Any expansion into satellite components would further extend the site's reach into the space and defense sectors.
Whether the plan will actually be implemented remains to be verified: the news comes from a single journalistic source and the material does not report official confirmation from Samsung or SpaceX on timing, amounts and planned production volumes.
