Have you ever been in a dead zone with no internet access? It's frustrating. But for around one-third of the world's population, no internet is a fact of life. More than 8 million Americans lack access to high-speed internet.

Amazon (AMZN 0.81%) intends to change this status quo. The company plans to provide high-speed internet all over the globe. Amazon stock has already soared more than 50% year to date. Could the effort to deliver worldwide internet access push the $1.3 trillion stock even higher?

Rocket science

On Friday, Amazon announced it's investing $120 million to build a new satellite processing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Construction is already underway at the facility.

This is the latest development in Amazon's Project Kuiper. Amazon's goal with the project is to create a network of more than 3,200 satellites in low earth orbit (between 367 miles and 392 miles above the earth). These satellites will ultimately provide fast internet access across the entire planet.

Amazon's new facility in Florida will prepare Project Kuiper satellites for launch. The satellites will be taken into space by rockets operated by Blue Origin (which, like Amazon, was founded by Jeff Bezos) and United Launch Alliance.

Another facility located in Kirkland, Washington, should begin producing the satellites by the end of 2023. However, Amazon hopes to launch its first two prototype satellites within the next few months. It expects to begin launching production satellites next year. The company's FCC license requires it to have at least half of its satellites in operation by July 2026.

Unclear impact

How big of a financial impact will Project Kuiper make on Amazon? It's hard to say for sure at this point.

Amazon won't be the only company offering high-speed internet access via satellites in low earth orbit. Elon Musk's SpaceX was the first to do so with its Starlink system.

Project Kuiper's pricing will be critical to how successfully it can compete against Starlink. Amazon hasn't revealed any details on pricing for the service. The company has stated, though, that "affordability is a key principle of Project Kuiper."

It's likely that prices will vary from country to country. Amazon also plans to offer different service options. Its lowest bandwidth will be up to 100 megabits per second. The fastest speed available will be up to 1 gigabit per second.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell has stated in the past that the total addressable market for satellite internet is around $1 trillion. If Amazon can capture even a fraction of a market that big, it would provide a huge boost to the company's revenue.

More likely near-term catalysts

Investors probably shouldn't look for Project Kuiper to drive Amazon stock a lot higher anytime soon. It could take a while before the satellite internet service picks up momentum. There are, however, other more likely near-term catalysts for Amazon.

One to especially watch is the company's improving profitability. Amazon has streamlined its operations by cutting staff and exiting some businesses. Should Amazon handily beat Wall Street estimates when it announces second-quarter results on Aug. 3, 2023, the stock could take off.

A strong rebound for Amazon Web Services (AWS) could especially provide a spark for the stock. In the first quarter, revenue growth for the cloud services platform slowed significantly.

Over the long term, though, Project Kuiper could be a huge winner for Amazon. Maybe, just maybe, it could one day send the stock into orbit.