Northern Waves invests €1.5M in metal AM satellite antenna production in Gijón, Spain

Northern Waves, a Swedish-registered developer of high-frequency components and satellite antennas, is establishing a new production facility in the Porceyo industrial zone of Gijón, Spain, with a €1.5 million investment in equipment, infrastructure, and site preparation. The company plans to begin manufacturing this summer with an initial annual capacity of approximately 5,000 antennas, scaling to 12,000–15,000 units within 24 months. To support this ramp, Northern Waves will install four additional metal 3D printers alongside one existing system, with four more units planned in the following year. The facility will produce components for satellite terminals, radar systems, cellular base stations, and 5G/6G infrastructure, leveraging metal additive manufacturing to create lightweight, geometrically optimized parts with complex internal cavity structures and reproducible electrical properties.

This expansion reflects a recurring pattern in the AM industry: a specialized engineering firm moving from prototype-scale production to serial manufacturing by investing in dedicated metal PBF-LB capacity. Northern Waves is targeting the aerospace and telecommunications intersection, where the qualification burden is high but the performance payoff for AM-produced waveguide and antenna components is well-documented. The company’s decision to locate in Gijón, supported by regional development agency SEKUENS, mirrors the broader trend of European AM production capacity dispersing beyond traditional German and Nordic hubs into southern regions with lower operating costs and growing technical talent pools. The ramp from 5,000 to 15,000 units annually over two years is a credible but aggressive target, requiring consistent process qualification and material supply chain stability.

From a practical standpoint, Northern Waves must now demonstrate that its metal PBF-LB process can deliver repeatable RF performance at scale, not just in R&D batches. The company’s ability to hire local technicians and RF engineers, plus a planned industrial PhD collaboration with the University of Oviedo, suggests a serious approach to building in-house qualification capability. For buyers in satellite and telecom infrastructure, this signals an additional European source of additively manufactured antenna components, but the real test will be whether Northern Waves can maintain dimensional accuracy and surface finish across the full production ramp without yield erosion.