Remember Elon Musk’s plan to put AI data centers in space?
It appears companies are taking the idea seriously. And one of those companies is Google.
According to a new report in the Wall Street Journal, Google is currently in talks with Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX, to strike a deal to launch rockets into space with the intent of putting data centers into orbit.
When SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk’s AI company, earlier this year, Musk penned a statement explaining why he decided to combine his companies.
One big reason? Data centers in space.
While this was not the only reason, it was a main focal point for SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI. SpaceX had recently filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking permission to launch “a million satellites” to put AI data centers into orbit.
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“Current advances in AI are dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which require immense amounts of power and cooling,” Musk explained at the time of the acquisition. “Global electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions, even in the near term, without imposing hardship on communities and the environment. In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale.”
Google seems to agree with Musk.
Late last year, Google announced Project Suncatcher, an initiative to launch prototype satellites by 2027 in order to “one day scale machine learning computer in space.”
Then, in February, just weeks after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared that the company was looking into its own orbital data centers.
While speaking at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, Pichai recounted how when growing up in India, he never imagined he’d “one day be spending time with teams figuring out how to put data centers into space.”
While Google is still exploring rocket launch options with other companies, the search giant wouldn’t be the first to partner with SpaceX in hopes of putting new AI data centers in space.
Last week, Anthropic and SpaceX announced a partnership to utilize xAI’s data centers in Memphis, Tennessee. The deal also includes future space development as well.
A deal with Google would also be extremely beneficial to SpaceX right now, as the company plans its $1.75 trillion IPO in the coming months.
