Intel announced a chip that will work not in the data center, but in Earth orbit - in conditions of constant temperature changes from -55 to 125 degrees Celsius and under the flow of space radiation.
The new system on the crystal was called Starfire and was created by order of the US government. It combines eight processor cores, a neural accelerator of three crystals and a graphics unit in one build using Foveros technology. The company introduced two versions of the chip - with a power consumption of 10 and 35 watts, showing performance up to 45 and 75 TOPS (trillion operations per second), respectively.
The peculiarity of Starfire is the separation of production processes within a single body. The processor cores and neural unit are manufactured by the Intel 18-nanometer process, and the graphic module is made over the older Intel 3. Intel has already used the same combination in the Clearwater Forest server processor. The smaller the transistor, the less the charge it holds, which means the higher the risk of failure from cosmic radiation. Therefore, the reliability of the new chip in the orbit will be provided not by the maturity of the process, but by special circuit solutions and protection at the level of the architecture of transistors.
For decades, the market of radiation-resistant chips for space was occupied by the BAE Systems RAD750 processor - it operates at a frequency of up to 200 MHz and stands on board rovers, as well as Kepler and Fermi devices. Newer developments, including BAE Systems’ RAD5545, and the promising chip that Microchip is being created for NASA, promise an order of magnitude more performance. However, Starfire with its separate neural unit is aimed at a fundamentally different task - not just telemetry and control, but data processing and artificial intelligence right on board the spacecraft.
While Starfire remains a demonstration development: according to Intel’s own data, the characteristics of resistance to ioration radiation and other types of radiation are still being clarified, and the chip itself has not yet passed radiation certification. The company warns that the final parameters may change. The chip will be delivered by Intel Government Technologies, and the first samples for testing are planned to be sent to customers in the third quarter of 2026.
For Intel, the project is also of strategic importance: the company remains the only American chip manufacturer of this level of complexity and participates in the Pentagon’s RAMP-C and SHIP programs. At the same time, Intel’s own forecasts show that the output of suitable crystals on the 18A procession will reach an industry level only by 2027, which can affect the timing of mass production of space chips based on it.
The new system on the crystal was called Starfire and was created by order of the US government. It combines eight processor cores, a neural accelerator of three crystals and a graphics unit in one build using Foveros technology. The company introduced two versions of the chip - with a power consumption of 10 and 35 watts, showing performance up to 45 and 75 TOPS (trillion operations per second), respectively.
The peculiarity of Starfire is the separation of production processes within a single body. The processor cores and neural unit are manufactured by the Intel 18-nanometer process, and the graphic module is made over the older Intel 3. Intel has already used the same combination in the Clearwater Forest server processor. The smaller the transistor, the less the charge it holds, which means the higher the risk of failure from cosmic radiation. Therefore, the reliability of the new chip in the orbit will be provided not by the maturity of the process, but by special circuit solutions and protection at the level of the architecture of transistors.
For decades, the market of radiation-resistant chips for space was occupied by the BAE Systems RAD750 processor - it operates at a frequency of up to 200 MHz and stands on board rovers, as well as Kepler and Fermi devices. Newer developments, including BAE Systems’ RAD5545, and the promising chip that Microchip is being created for NASA, promise an order of magnitude more performance. However, Starfire with its separate neural unit is aimed at a fundamentally different task - not just telemetry and control, but data processing and artificial intelligence right on board the spacecraft.
While Starfire remains a demonstration development: according to Intel’s own data, the characteristics of resistance to ioration radiation and other types of radiation are still being clarified, and the chip itself has not yet passed radiation certification. The company warns that the final parameters may change. The chip will be delivered by Intel Government Technologies, and the first samples for testing are planned to be sent to customers in the third quarter of 2026.
For Intel, the project is also of strategic importance: the company remains the only American chip manufacturer of this level of complexity and participates in the Pentagon’s RAMP-C and SHIP programs. At the same time, Intel’s own forecasts show that the output of suitable crystals on the 18A procession will reach an industry level only by 2027, which can affect the timing of mass production of space chips based on it.
