Cowboy is trying to make their entire upper stage a data center, so they’re more reliant on having their own rocket.
AST… I don’t really get why they wouldn’t just work with Firefly to make a custom fairing or something. The launch crunch is still real now, and it’ll take years to replace the Falcon cadence, but I don’t see any way for them to be faster.
These two have a different business case than launch startups. Cowboy and AST are both focused on their satellites (data centers and direct to cell comms, respectively) and a way to launch them.
SpaceX is pulling back from the commercial market, and a big part of Starlink success is the low internal Falcon 9 pricing vs what Amazon and Oneweb pay commercially. Vertically integrating launch can be a huge leg up IF (giant if) they actually pull it off.
Blue Origin has announced their own comms and data center constellations. I wouldn’t be surprised if Relativity did the same.
Buying engines helps but 2 years is still unhinged