Elon Musk says space becomes cheapest place for AI data centres

Elon Musk says space will soon be the most affordable location for artificial intelligence data centres. The prediction was made during a podcast discussion, following new regulatory filings by SpaceX with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

A proposal has been filed with the FCC by SpaceX to develop a constellation of space-based AI data centres to be powered by solar energy.

Speaking to media, SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk noted that it was becoming hard to expand AI infrastructure on Earth, while in space, not all conditions were unfavourable for expansion. According to him, this is because the sun shines on solar panels in space up to five times compared to those on the surface.

Speaking on a podcast with Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison, Musk said energy costs are the key factor. “In 36 months, the most economical place for AI will be space,” he said.

According to Musk, cheap and continuous solar power could dramatically reduce the operating costs of large-scale AI models. SpaceX already runs Starlink, a network of more than 6,000 satellites, and the new plan would expand this into AI computing clusters in orbit.

Critics say that taking care and keeping the hardware cool in space is a huge challenge. Such repairs and upgrading of GPUs would be cumbersome and expensive; nevertheless, Musk considers the future bright, claiming in five years, more AI computing power will operate in space annually than on Earth.