This new business from Amazon represents a '$100 billion opportunity,' Morgan Stanley says
- Amazon plans to launch Project Kuiper, a network of 3,236 small satellites to create an interconnected network that beams high-speed internet to anywhere on Earth.
- Morgan Stanley estimates Project Kuiper represents as much as a "$100 billion opportunity."
- The firm's estimate is based on its expectation that the space economy will grow to more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years.
Amazon is looking to expand its empire and Morgan Stanley believes Jeff Bezos' ambitious satellite internet plan may become one of its most lucrative businesses.
Called Project Kuiper, Amazon aims to launch a network of 3,236 small satellites to create an interconnected network that beams high-speed internet to anywhere on Earth. While Amazon has yet to outline a timeline or cost for Project Kuiper, in a note on Monday to investors, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas highlighted the network's potential.
Jonas said Project Kuiper represents as much as a "$100 billion opportunity," marking it as a play in the consumer broadband sector of the space economy. Morgan Stanley's estimate is based on its expectation that the space economy will grow to more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years. The firm's comments came in a feature on Bezos' space business Blue Origin, the latest in Morgan Stanley's series on "space disruptor" companies.
Morgan Stanley on the connection between Jeff Bezos, Amazon and Blue Origin
Amazon last year hired the former leader of SpaceX's satellite program, CNBC reported in April, and Project Kuiper pits Bezos against Elon Musk's company, as well as several others, in the race to build next-generation internet satellite networks.
"We believe investors may want to pay attention to Jeff Bezos for the advancement of efforts in Space, as he has demonstrated both the will and, increasingly, the financial muscle to put to work," Jonas said.
Morgan Stanley's note focused on Blue Origin. The space company is finishing development of a rocket for space tourism, a massive rocket for launching spacecraft to orbit and a lunar lander to carry humans and cargo to the Moon. Bezos sells more than $1 billion in Amazon stock each year and invests it in Blue Origin.