This Belgian Chip Startup Just Raised $16M to Shake Up Satellite Internet

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-18

TUSK IC, a fabless semiconductor company based in Antwerp, Belgium, has just closed a $16 million Series A funding round. That's a big deal for a company you might not have heard of yet. But if you care about satellite internet, you should pay attention. The round was led by Matterwave Ventures, FORWARD.one, and the Flanders Future Tech Fund (managed by PMV). The Schaubroeck family also participated, along with continued support from existing investors. So why are these folks so excited? ### The Big Idea: Cheap Chips for Satellite Internet TUSK IC spun out of KU Leuven's mmWave research group back in 2018. For the first few years, it designed radio-frequency chips for automotive radar and industrial sensing. Then in 2022, it pivoted to satellite communications hardware. Smart move. Its flagship product is a set of beamformer chips for Ka-band satellite links, built on standard CMOS manufacturing. The company claims these are the world's first of their kind. These chips are a core component of the flat-panel antennas used in satellite user terminals. And according to TUSK IC, they offer a lower-cost, lower-power alternative to the specialty semiconductor materials (like SiGe) that dominate the sector today. > "The future of connectivity will be determined not only by the constellations in orbit, but also by the technologies that make high-performance user terminals scalable and affordable on the ground," said Silviu Apostu, Partner at Matterwave Ventures. "TUSK IC combines leading-edge mmWave innovation with the economics and scalability of standard CMOS, addressing a critical bottleneck in satellite communications." ### Why This Matters for the US Market If you're in the US, you know satellite internet is a big deal. Starlink, Amazon's Project Kuiper, and others are racing to beam broadband from space. But all those satellites need ground terminals, and those terminals need chips. Right now, those chips are expensive and power-hungry. TUSK IC's approach could change that. By building on mainstream CMOS processes, TUSK IC says it can bring costs down without sacrificing performance. The company describes its mission as "democratising" satellite connectivity. That's a bold claim, but the logic is sound. CMOS is the same technology used in the processor of your laptop or phone. It's cheap, it's scalable, and it's everywhere. Specialty materials like SiGe are faster in some ways, but they're also more expensive and harder to manufacture at volume. ### What's Next for TUSK IC? The company's product line, marketed under the ConnectKa name, includes transmit and receive beamformer chips plus a low-noise amplifier. All are designed for electronically steerable antennas aimed at low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations. With this new funding, TUSK IC plans to accelerate the commercialisation of its Ka-band beamformer chips and scale from prototype to high-volume production. The company is also working with an unnamed satellite equipment manufacturer to integrate its beamformer technology into a new electronically steered array antenna. "This milestone reflects the expertise and excellence of our entire team, who have turned an ambitious vision into a commercially relevant product platform," said Kathleen Philips, CEO of TUSK IC. "The investment will accelerate the transition from prototype chips to high-volume production." Earlier this year, TUSK IC also secured a contract from the European Space Agency, backed by the Belgian science policy office BELSPO, under ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems programme. So the momentum is real. ### The Bottom Line TUSK IC isn't trying to launch its own satellites. It's building the picks and shovels for the satellite internet gold rush. And if its chips work as promised, they could make satellite broadband more affordable and accessible for everyone. That's a win for consumers, and a potential threat to incumbents. Keep an eye on this one.