"Over the past three weeks, SpaceX has filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for what amounts to a million-satellite data-center network. Musk has also said he plans to merge his AI startup, xAI, with SpaceX to pursue orbital data centers. And at an all-hands meeting last week, he told xAI employees the company would ultimately need a factory on the moon to build AI satellites-along with a massive catapult to launch them into space."
"Musk is not alone in floating the idea. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has said Google is exploring "moonshot" concepts for data centers in space later this decade. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has warned that the industry is "running out of electricity" and has discussed space-based infrastructure as a potential long-term solution. And Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has said orbital data centers could become the next step in space ventures designed to benefit earth."
Technology companies plan massive spending on earth-based data centers while proposals for orbital, solar-powered AI data centers have emerged. SpaceX filed Federal Communications Commission plans for a million-satellite data-center network and proposed merging xAI with SpaceX to pursue orbital facilities. Proposals include a lunar factory and catapult to build and launch AI satellites. Major tech leaders and firms have explored or endorsed space-based data-center concepts as long-term responses to rising electricity demands. Many experts counter that achieving meaningful scale remains decades away given ongoing terrestrial investment and constraints around power, heat management, and launches.
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