Data Center Competition has reached a fever pitch, but ground-based competition is no longer enough to satisfy the ambitions of tech giants, and some companies are exploring the possibility of space-based data centers .
According to a source familiar with the matter, Amazon Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, has been developing space artificial intelligence for the past year. The technologies required for data centers .
Meanwhile, sources have revealed that billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to use upgraded Starlink satellites to carry artificial intelligence computing payloads and to market this technology as part of a stock sale, which could value the company at $800 billion.
Hotly Discussed Rail Data Center
With terrestrial data centers increasingly demanding electricity and water resources, the concept of orbital data centers is gaining popularity amid resource concerns.
In October, Bezos predicted that within the next 10 to 20 years, the tech industry will build gigawatt-scale data centers in space and utilize solar energy. The orbital data center will be able to supply energy and will not be affected by weather changes such as clouds and rain, which means that the orbital data center will surpass the data center on Earth.
In November, Google also announced the "Sunshine Catcher" program, which aims to launch solar-powered satellites equipped with its proprietary AI chips, with a demonstration mission planned for 2027.
Another startup, Starcloud, launched a 60-kilogram satellite around the same time, powered by Nvidia. The H100 chip marks an initial attempt at an orbital data center. Currently, the satellite is operational and responding to queries to Google's open-source model, Gemma.
Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston also pointed out that the company's orbital data centers will have 90% lower energy costs than terrestrial data centers. He expects anything that can be done in a terrestrial data center to be done in space, due to energy limitations on the ground.
However, some experts warn that unless rocket launch costs drop significantly, such orbital data centers will not be economically viable. Furthermore, these orbital data centers could have a greater environmental and climate impact than similar facilities on Earth.
(Article source: CLS)
