Powering Starlink global connectivity

How SpaceX brought internet access to more places

For years, the promise of broadband from space sounded like the kind of idea that lived more easily in a strategy deck than in the real world. SpaceX changed that. By building Starlink, the company has turned low Earth orbit satellites into a working communications network, one that now serves more than 12 million users¹ in more than 160 countries. For people in rural areas, on remote job sites, at sea, or far beyond the reach of traditional internet infrastructure, that matters. Starlink is not just a story about rockets and satellites. It is also a story about engineering precision, manufacturing discipline, and the semiconductor technology needed to make a radically complex system work at scale. That is where ST came in.

Behind Starlink’s plug-and-play experience

Starlink’s white terminal looks simple from the outside: plug it in, point it at the sky, and it works. But that simplicity hides a highly complex system behind it. The terminal must maintain a connection with a fast-moving satellite constellation, operate reliably in harsh weather, and be manufactured at very high volumes without sacrificing quality or cost. Few hardware platforms face such demanding requirements.

Why SpaceX relies on ST technology

A big part of the story is ST’s deep expertise in BiCMOS technology, which helps power the high-performance phased-array antennas inside Starlink terminals, thanks to its outstanding RF performance in the K band. Those antennas enable the terminal to track satellites overhead moving at 27,000 km/h and to switch smoothly from one satellite to another, helping achieve an ultra-fast and stable user connection, even in the most remote areas. But performance was only half the challenge. SpaceX also needed a way to build at scale, and ST introduced a radical innovation in packaging for volume and cost efficiency: a new manufacturing platform based on panel-level packaging, where chips are assembled and processed on a large panel rather than individual wafers. The payoff has been dramatic: a delivery rate of more than 5 million RF chips a day, helping Starlink scale faster than many thought possible.  

ST's contribution does not stop at the user terminal. It extends all the way into the satellites themselves, which also feature larger phased-array antennas. Starlink also relies on ST's FD-SOI (fully depleted silicon-on-insulator) technology, through the STM32V8 microcontroller, which SpaceX selected for the mini laser systems that link Starlink satellites to one another at extremely high speeds in low Earth orbit.

As Starlink moves toward new satellite generations and next-generation terminals, the collaboration between SpaceX and ST continues to focus on the technologies that will shape the next phase of space-based connectivity.