TUSK IC Raises €15M for Satellite Chips
Belgian semiconductor startup TUSK IC has raised €15 million to move Ka-band satellite communication chips toward mass production.
TUSK IC has raised €15 million in Series A funding to move its satellite communications chips from prototype development toward higher-volume manufacturing.
What happened
The Belgian semiconductor startup is developing Ka-band beamformer chips for satellite communications using standard CMOS manufacturing technology.
The round was led by Matterwave Ventures, FORWARD.one and the Flanders Future Tech Fund.
TUSK plans to use the capital to scale production and support the next stage of commercial deployment.
Why it matters
Satellite constellations require more than launch capacity and spacecraft. They also depend on affordable ground terminals capable of tracking and communicating with moving satellites.
Beamforming chips are central to those electronically steered antennas. Using mainstream semiconductor manufacturing could potentially lower cost and simplify scale compared with more specialised technologies.
The bigger picture
Space infrastructure is becoming a semiconductor market as much as an aerospace market. Large constellations need millions of affordable components across satellites and user terminals. TUSK is targeting one of those enabling layers, where lower-cost chips could help make satellite connectivity more widely deployable.