Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service is getting more competition from China and Amazon, according to Reuters. A Chinese state-backed company, SpaceSail, and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, created by Jeff Bezos, are pushing into the satellite internet business.
SpaceSail is already expanding into Brazil and Kazakhstan, while Brazil is also in talks with Kuiper and Canadian company Telesat, Reuters reported.
Starlink has the most satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO), meaning they are closer to Earth and can provide fast internet, especially to remote places, ships, and military forces, Reuters explained.
However, China sees Musk’s dominance as a threat and is putting a lot of money into competing networks and technology to track satellites, according to corporate and academic sources reviewed by Reuters.
China launched 263 LEO satellites in 2023, a record number, according to data from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, which Reuters analyzed. SpaceSail, which is controlled by the Shanghai government, plans to launch 648 satellites this year and up to 15,000 by 2030, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Starlink has about 7,000 satellites now and aims for 42,000 by the decade’s end.
Brazil’s government welcomes this competition since it wants better internet for rural areas but has clashed with Musk over business and politics, Reuters noted. SpaceSail has been praised in Chinese state media as a tool for global internet coverage and strategic power. However, Reuters said Western policymakers worry that China’s satellite expansion could spread its internet censorship worldwide.
China is not stopping at SpaceSail. It has multiple other satellite networks in development, aiming for 43,000 LEO satellites over time, according to Reuters. Some experts believe this is China’s way of securing space for its own systems before strict global rules come into play—like a “wild west” race for space dominance, Reuters reported.
China’s military is also closely watching Starlink. Researchers from China’s National University of Defense Technology are working on ways to monitor and track its satellites. According to Reuters, the Chinese military sees Starlink as a major tool for U.S. military and intelligence operations, and some patents focus on countering it.
Reuters also found that China is investing heavily in space technology. A company called Hongqing Technology is developing a 10,000-satellite system and recently raised millions of dollars, mostly from state-backed investors. In 2023, China filed over 2,400 patents related to LEO satellite technology, a huge increase from just 162 in 2019, Reuters reported.
Some of this Chinese research is directly aimed at Starlink. A recent study from Chinese military researchers described Starlink as a security threat and claimed they had developed a system to track these satellites, Reuters found. The researchers even compared their strategy to how humpback whales trap prey by circling them.
In simple terms, China, Amazon, and other companies are challenging Musk’s Starlink for dominance in space.
China is moving fast, launching thousands of satellites and developing ways to track Starlink, while the U.S. and other Western countries are debating how to respond, Reuters explained.
The race for space dominance is heating up, and the world is watching.
Credit : Reuters