SpaceX taps Germany's Singulus for €60M solar-cell line to power orbital AI
What's the deal? SpaceX has signed a supply contract worth more than €60 million with German equipment maker SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES for a turnkey heterojunction (HJT) solar-cell production line. The first line is due in the first half of 2027 at SpaceX's Bastrop, Texas, facility. It will supply cells for Starmind, SpaceX's planned network of satellites designed to run computing payloads on solar power generated in orbit.
What's the endgame? The deal is part of a wider partnership under which SINGULUS plans to deliver multiple additional lines. SINGULUS says production will scale to support more than 100 GW of manufacturing equipment, while chief executive Elon Musk said on X that SpaceX had ordered "100 GW/year" of gear, linking it to an ambition he described as a "sentient sun."
Mind the gap: The only confirmed order is the first line. SINGULUS did not specify an annual output rate, how many lines are involved, or a delivery schedule for the broader plan, so the 100 GW figure remains an ambition, not a committed order.
Why it matters for Singulus: The partnership is significant for the much smaller supplier, which reported €60.4 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2026. SpaceX also provided funding to SINGULUS in March 2026 and again in October through a subordinated secured loan, meaning SpaceX is buying equipment from a company it is backing financially.
How it works: HJT technology combines a crystalline silicon wafer with thin layers of amorphous silicon, reducing charge loss at the wafer's surfaces and improving conversion of sunlight into electricity. SINGULUS builds the wet-chemical and vacuum-coating equipment used across those stages.
The signal: The contract adds a concrete manufacturing step to SpaceX's still-unproven plan for orbital AI computing. It marks a serious effort to build a supply chain for Starmind, but the vast scale (Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston likened 100 GW a year to adding a fifth of the US grid annually) is an aspiration, not evidence that an orbital data-centre network is being deployed.
Read more: singulus.com, SINGULUS on Starmind cells
Image credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video
