AST SpaceMobile Expands U.S. Manufacturing Footprint
AST SpaceMobile is expanding its U.S. manufacturing roots with two new facilities in Texas and Florida, part of an aggressive scale-up to accelerate production of its next-generation BlueBird satellites, designed to deliver space-based 4G/5G broadband directly to unmodified smartphones.
The company now employs more than 1,800 people, doubling its U.S. workforce in just six months. Most are based at its growing West Texas hub, which now includes five facilities, including a new Midland site where AST SpaceMobile manufactures BlueBird satellites “from raw materials to finished spacecraft.” A new facility in Homestead, Florida, adds further capacity and geographic diversity.
AST SpaceMobile says 95% of its manufacturing processes are now kept within the US, supported by more than 3,800 patents and patent-pending claims. This aligns with its strategy to secure the supply chain for a constellation that aims to deliver global, continuous, direct-to-device cellular broadband.
The next-gen BlueBird satellites are AST’s most advanced yet, featuring:
2,400 sq ft phased-array antennas — the largest commercial arrays ever deployed in LEO
Custom high-power systems
The AST5000 ASIC, enabling up to 10× the bandwidth of earlier BlueBirds
Peak downlink speeds of up to 120 Mbps, supporting voice, broadband, and video
Building these spacecraft at scale demands specialized tooling and secure, U.S.-based production lines, a capability AST SpaceMobile is rapidly expanding to meet its goal of launching 45–60 satellites by the end of 2026.
The company continues to collaborate with major U.S. partners including AT&T, Verizon, American Tower, and Google as it prepares to build out what could become the world’s first global, space-based cellular broadband network for ordinary smartphones.