AST SpaceMobile, Inc. announced the commencement of the tape-out phase for its Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), in collaboration with TSMC. As the cornerstone of AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird Block 2 program, the AST5000 ASIC is a novel, custom and low-power architecture developed to enable up to a tenfold improvement in processing bandwidth on each satellite, unlocking opportunities for seamless space-based cellular broadband services worldwide. This significant milestone marks the culmination of over four years of dedicated research, development, and engineering expertise, equivalent to an estimated 150 man-years of intensive work, as well as approximately $45 million of development.

AST SpaceMobile has achieved 3 Bits/Hertz using BlueWalker 3 and has planned capacity of up to 40 MHz per beam on its commercial satellites, which is planned to support 120 Mbps peak data rates. With planned ASICs and 2,400 sq ft BlueBird satellite size, company expect to support up to 10,000 MHz of processing bandwidth per satellite in the future to enable the first and only space-based cellular broadband network.