HSBC: Starlink Users Surpass 12 Million as Space Race Boosts Earth-Based Industries in Three Ways

According to Trend Research, an HSBC report released on August 18 spanning 12 industries points out that SpaceX's Starlink has crossed the inflection point for scale. As of June 30, it operates 10,200 satellites in orbit and serves 12 million broadband subscribers across 167 markets. Additionally, 7.4 million monthly active devices connect directly to mobile phones via satellite (Direct to Cell), covering 30 countries. Maersk has installed Starlink on more than 330 container ships, while United Airlines plans to upgrade 15 Boeing 737-800 aircraft per month. Starship aims to reduce launch costs to $100–$300 per kilogram, representing a decline of over 95% compared to historical averages. HSBC assesses that the space race is now benefiting terrestrial industries across three dimensions: From a communications standpoint, Starlink and ground-based telecom operators are predominantly complementary, filling coverage gaps in oceanic, desert, and post-disaster environments. Regarding compute infrastructure, orbital data centers currently cost three times as much as ground-based equivalents, acting mainly as strategic reserves; however, if TeraFab’s vertically integrated wafer fabs succeed, they could revolutionize the division of labor in the semiconductor industry. At the energy level, AI data centers have pushed the annual growth rate of U.S. power demand to 4%-5%, making renewable energy and the electrical grid the largest beneficiaries. Among the 12 industries covered, power, semiconductors, and robotics are being directly transformed.