Intel unveiled Starfire, a radiation-hardened system-on-chip designed for space applications, built on its 18A process technology. The chip is based on the Panther Lake architecture and integrates eight CPU cores, a 75 TOPS neural processing unit, and a GPU into a single package optimized for size, weight, and power constraints.
Starfire targets U.S. government satellite and space computing programs, where reliability under radiation exposure is critical. Intel said the chip can operate at up to 2.1 GHz in the space environment and includes redundant logic circuits and error-correction memory to survive single-event upsets caused by cosmic rays.
The company plans to provide Starfire engineering samples to customers in the third quarter of 2026, with radiation tolerance and reliability testing currently underway. This marks Intel’s first push into the space-grade processor market, a segment long dominated by BAE Systems, Honeywell, and Microchip Technology using older process nodes.
By adapting the 18A node – which features RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery – Intel aims to bring terrestrial-class performance to orbit while meeting military-grade reliability standards. The move also signals confidence in 18A’s maturity ahead of the node’s planned high-volume manufacturing ramp.
