Tusk IC is developing critical components for a new space economy: chips that enable the transmission and reception of millimeter-wave signals. The Antwerp-based startup is focused on CMOS, semiconductor technology that has all the benefits of scale and cost reduction. Bits&Chips sat down with CEO Kathleen Philips and CTO Shailesh Kulkarni to discuss the opportunities they see.
Iridium, a Motorola-led satellite communications project, was one of the most expensive telecom ventures of the 1990s. The ecosystem partners build a 66-satellite constellation, ground infrastructure hardware, satellite phones and the network software. At the end, the total loss was about 5 billion dollars, of which Motorola absorbed roughly 2 billion.
And yet, space communication is back. After this market barely moved for years, Elon Musk’s Starlink changed the game by dramatically lowering the cost of launching satellites into orbit. This is also opening the door to a wave of new companies in the field. Tusk IC, a spinoff of KU Leuven’s MICAS group, is one of them.
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