Starlink

Amazon to buy Globalstar for $11.57B in bid to flesh out its satellite biz

Amazon acquires Globalstar for $11.57B to accelerate its Leo satellite internet service with 3,200+ satellites, directly challenging Starlink's orbital dominance in space-based connectivity.

The Quiet Resurgence of RF Engineering

Starlink's 10x launch surge, 5G's 8-16x RF hardware demand per base station, and EU automotive radar mandates converge to create a critical shortage—73% of EE employers can't fill RF positions—reviving a field that seemed in terminal decline.

Phone-to-satellite use goes into orbit, growing 25% in 8 months

Starlink and mobile carriers are rapidly scaling direct-to-satellite phone connectivity—25% growth in eight months—with US (46% of global traffic) and Australia (18%) leading adoption in rural dead zones where cellular fails.

The SpaceX IPO is a trillion-dollar gamble on the future of space

SpaceX's $1 trillion IPO places a bet that commercial space ventures beyond government contracts—asteroid mining, lunar resource extraction, orbital data centers—are economically viable, despite expert skepticism about profitability.

2026.16: Servers, Satellites, and Stars

Amazon's $11.8B Globalstar acquisition signals a fundamental shift in AI economics—compute scarcity now makes fixed data center costs and opportunity costs more critical than marginal costs, exposing unfocused players like OpenAI.